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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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"MO. 6. 



Talks on Psychology 



APPLIED TO TEACHING. 

FOR 

TEACHERS AND NORMAL INSTITUTES. 

By A: ST WELCH, LL.D., 

CYPRES. IOWA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, AMES, IOWA. 



u- 



U 




New York and Chicago: 

E. L KELLOGG & CO. 






Copyright, 1888, 

E. L. KELLOGG & CO., 

New York. 



LC Control Number 




tmp96 025776 



PREFACE. 



This little book on the elements of applied Psychol- 
ogy has been written for the sole purpose of helpiDg the 
teacher in preparing for more effective work in the 
school-room. Many instructors in our common and 
graded schools are familiar with the branches they 
teach, but deficient in knowledge of the mental powers 
whose development they seek to promote. But no pro- 
ficiency in science or art that does not include the study 
of mind, can ever qualify the student for the work of 
the teacher. He must comprehend fully not only the 
objects studied by the learner, but the efforts put forth 
in studying them, the effect of these efforts on the 
faculty exerted, and their results in the form of accurate 
knowledge. How can the teacher deal successfully with 
these fundamental facts of Psychology, without having 
first mastered them himself? Indeed, it is urged by 
eminent educators everywhere that a knowledge of the 
branches to be taught, and a knowledge of the mind to 
be trained thereby, are equally essential to successful 
teaching. 

Permit me to add a few suggestions as to the method 
you pursue in studying the subjects presented in this 
small volume. From the beginning to the end, master 



PREFACE. 



completely every topic before you proceed to the next 
one. Strive earnestly to realize, again and again, in 
your own thought, every mental operation described. 
Ponder, long and frequently at first, upon every process 
by which the juvenile intellect is incited to the strenuous 
action that results in discipline ; and believe me, if you 
follow these few directions minutely, it will not be long 
before what is begun perhaps as an irksome task will 
become the most fascinating study you have ever pur- 
sued. 

A larger and more complete work on Psychology for 
the teacher, is ready for the press and will soon follow 
this volume. 

A. S. Welch. 

Ames, Iowa. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

MIND- GROWTH AND ITS HELPS. 

PAGE 

Introduction 13 

Two Kinds of Knowledge 13 

Faculty Denned and Illustrated 13 

Knowledge of the Faculties : How Gained 15 

Synopsis 15 

The Human Intellect 15 

Thinking 16 

CHAPTER II. 

THE FEELINGS. 

Pleasure and Pain 17 

Feeling Defined 18 

Classes of Feelings 18 

The Sensibility 19 

The Sensations : How Produced 19 

Perception Follows Sensation 19 

Other Feelings Follow Knowledge 19 

Desire : What is ? \ 20 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE WILL AND THE SPONTANEITIES. 

PAGE 

Will, the Power of Choice 21 

The Will, the Mind's Propelling Power 22 

The Spontaneities. 22 

Spontaneity in Education ... 23 

Feelings Spontaneous Throughout 24 

The Will has Indirect Control of Feeling 24 

CHAPTER IV. 

SENSATION. 

Sensation Precedes Perception 25 

Sensation of Smell 25 

Sensation of Taste 25 

The Sensation of Feeling or Touch 26 

The Sensation of Sight 27 

Sensation of Hearing 28 

Summary of the Facts Gathered respecting Sensations 29 

Sensations of Seeing and Hearing Slight 29 

CHAPTER V. 

SENSE PERCEPTION. GATHERING CONCEPTS. 

The Animal Senses do not Gather Ideas 31 

Perception through Touch as Affecting the Nerves of Motion 

Perception of Shape, etc 32 

Size and Weight 32 

Touch, a Double Sense 33 

Perceptive Touch, an Instrument of Expression 34 

Manual Training 34 

Perception through the Sense of Sight 35 

Sight : How Trained 36 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

What is it We See? 36 

How do We see Solids? 36 

No Sight Perception of Colorless Objects 37 

Effect of Long Experience 38 

Rapidity and Range of the Sense of Sight 38 

Value of Eye Training 39 

Means of Training the Eye 39 

Perception of Sound through the Sense of Hearing 40 

Sense of Hearing . , 41 

Triple Effect of a Significant Word 41 

Hearing an Intellectual Sense 41 

The Ear : How Trained 42 

The Percept 42 



CHAPTER VI. 

MEMORY AND CONCEPTION. 

Memory — Acquiring the Concept 46 

The Three Acts of Memory Spontaneous and Unconscious. . 47 

Concept Retained by Association 47 

Sign and Thing Signified 48 

Whole and Parts 48 

Time and Place 49 

Resemblance 49 

Other Associations 49 

Principles in the Science of Education 50 

Conception 51 

All Acts begin as Spontaneities. 51 

Attention the Application of Will Force 52 

Ratio of Will Force to Spontaneity 52 

Conception : What is It ? 53 

Interest and Reiteration Produce Distinct Concepts 53 

Memory and Conception Depend on Sense Perception 54 

Synopsis 54 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ANALYSIS AND ABSTRACTION. 

PAGE 

The Concrete Concept. Its Origin Reviewed 56 

The Concept Duplicates the Percept 56 

Analysis of the Concrete Concept 57 

Analysis either Spontaneous or Strenuous 57 

Analysis of the Concept a Repetition 58 

The Object Lesson Preparatory 58 

Analysis: How Trained as a Faculty 58 

Value of the Power ._ JL . . 59 

Abstraction 59 

The Objects of Abstraction 60 

Notions of Roundness : How Gained . . 60 

Adjectives and Abstract Nouns . 60 

Number and Form 61 

Concrete Arithmetic 61 

The Concrete before the Abstract 62 

Synopsis 62 

CHAPTER VIII. 

IMAGINATION AND CLASSIFICATION. 

Faculties that proceed by Synthesis ; the One to build up new 
Concepts; the Other to arrange Concepts in Classes. Imagin- 
ation the Concept-builder. 

The Faculty that Constructs 64 

Its Materials 64 

Constituents of the Image-Concepts 65 

Example of the Process in Child Mind 65 

Image-Concepts of the Child and the Man Contrasted. ...... 66 

The Concept of the Image-Concept Inspected 66 

Image-Concepts : How Expressed 67 

Imagination : its Culture. 68 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Classification : the Faculty that arranges Concrete Con- 
cepts into Classes 69 

The Preceding Series yields Single Concepts only 69 

Class-Concepts : How Formed 70 

Characteristics 70 

The Materials for Classifying 71 

Actual Classification contains Groups within Groups 71 

Definition : What is it ? 73 

Proper and Common Nouns: Adjectives aDd Abstract 

Nouns 74 

Early Classification turns Proper Names into Class Names. . 74 

Classifying Faculty ; How Educated 75 

Sciences that Supply Objects for Classification 76 



CHAPTER IX. 

JUDGMENT AND KEASONING : THE THINKING FACULTIES. 

TJie First connecting two Class- Concepts together ; the Second 
comparing them with each other in Triplets. 

What is Judgment ? 78 

We think in Judgments 80 

The Proposition 81 

The Power to Think : How Disciplined 82 

Deductive Reasoning. Deducing Concepts 82 

Materials for the Reasoning Process 82 

The Reasoning Process 83 

The Syllogism 84 

Imperfect Induction 86 

Culture of the Reasoning Faculty 86 

Principles in the Science of Education Derived from the In- 
variable Order in Mind-growth 86 

Tabular View of the Succession of Powers, Objects, Acts, 

and Products in Mind-growth 87 



IO CONTENTS. 



PART II. 

HELPS FOB MIND- GROWTH. 
CHAPTER L 

EDUCATION AND THE MEANS OP ATTAINING IT. 

PAGE 

Education : What is it? 91 

Physical Education 92 

Mental Education tt. . . 92 

Intellectual Education , 92 

Moral Education 93 

Order of the Processes of Education 94 

Contrast of an Ignorant and an Educated Person 94 

The Means of Education 96 

The Environment 96 

Stimulation 97 

Selection and Arrangement of Objects the Teacher's Pro- 
vince 97 

Reiteration of Efforts Essential to Education 97 

Two Conditions in Reiteration 98 

Imitation v 99 

CHAPTER II. 

TRAINING OF THE SENSES. 

General Principles 100 

The Animal Senses 1 00 

Perceptive Touch : Trained by what Means ? 101 

The Primary School Period — The Formal Training of Sight 

and Touch in Concert 104 

Identical Exercises for Manual and Visual Training 105 

Primary Drawing 105 



CONTENTS. 1 1 



PAGE 

Arrangement of Progressive Lessons 106 

Drawing the Alphabet 107 

The Ear : Its Primary Training 108 

Child Singing 108 

Phonic Drill as a Correction of Actual Defects in Vocal 

Utterance 109 

Phonic Drill for Primary Classes 110 

Primary Counting Ill 

The Faculties exercised in Concrete Reckoning 112 



CHAPTER HI. 

HEADING, WRITING, SPELLING. 

The Eye, Ear, Tongue, and Hand trained in Primary Read- 
ing 114 

Nature's Method applied in Learning to Read 115 

Reading with the Objects Present 115 

First Reading and Writing Combined 116 

First Reading of the Sentence 117 

Formal Practice in Writing 118 

Spelling Learned by Writing. 118 

Spelling Follows the same Series as Reading 119 

What Faculties are Effectively Trained by the Natural 

Methods of Learning to Read, to Write, and to Spell. . . 120 

Early Exercise in Writing 121 

Disciplinary Effect of Primary Spelling 122 



CHAPTER IV. 

COMPOSITION, ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR, ABSTRACT ARITHMETIC. 

What Faculties do they Stimulate and Train ? 124 

The Place of Early Composition in the Series 124 

Exercises in Composition : How Arranged 125 



12 CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Compositions that Train the Memory 127 

Observation and Memory 127 

Narrative 128 

Style , 128 

Home Topics 129 

Rudimentary Invention 129 

The Faculties Trained by Composition Writing 130 

Abstract Arithmetic 131 

Arithmetic as a Study: What Faculties does it Exercise?. . . 132 

Abstraction 132 

Classification Incited by Pure Numbers , 132 

Arithmetic Disciplines chiefly the Reasoning Faculty. .77. . . 133 

English Grammar : Its Nature 133 

The Preparation Required 134 

Grammar as a Gymnastic Exercise 136 



TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 



Chapter JL 

INTRODUCTION. 

Two Kinds of Knowledge. — Two kinds of knowledge 
are indispensable to the teacher for the successful prose- 
cution of his work. The first is a knowledge, clear and 
complete, of the branches taught. The second is a 
knowledge, equally exhaustive, of the faculties of the 
child, which the act of teaching it calls into exercise. 

A knowledge of the intellectual faculties includes a 
clear insight into the nature and purpose of each faculty, 
its mode of action, the objects on which it acts, and the 
place it holds in the order of growth during infancy, 
childhood, and youth. 

Faculty Defined and Illustrated. — A faculty may be 
defined as the power the mind has of attending ex- 
clusively to a specific class of objects; and the purpose 
of such faculty is to gain for the mind a knowledge of 
the objects to which it attends. For example, in exer- 
cising the faculty of hearing, the mind attends to one or 
more sounds within its range, for the purpose of gaining 
a knowledge of their nature. The faculty of gaining 



14 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

knowledge through the ear is called the Sense of 
Hearing. Its action, which we term listening, is in- 
cited by the presence of its objects, which are indeed the 
entire catalogue of audible sounds. This faculty of 
mind, I repeat, is the sense of hearing ; its organ is the 
ear, its action is listening, its objects are the audible 
sounds, and its purpose is to gain knowledge of these 
sounds. 

In like manner we may cite, as another example, the 
faculty by which the mind perceives external visible ob- 
jects. This faculty is called the Sense of Sight. Its 
action is termed seeing, its objects are outside things 
which have form and color, and its purpose is to store 
the mind with ideas of the visible world around us. 

A still further example to be noted is the power by 
which the mind attains knowledge of things that pre- 
sent resisting surfaces; namely, the faculty of touch. It 
is through the faculty of touch that we obtain knowl- 
edge of those outside objects whose surfaces obstruct the 
free motion of the hand. Now the faculty of mind, 
which enables it to perceive external resisting objects, is 
named the Sense of Touch, while the action or opera- 
tion of this sense is expressed by the participle touching 
or feeling, and the objects perceived thereby are the 
things within reach whose solidity and hardness resist 
pressure. We need not add that the purpose of the 
faculty or sense of touch is to furnish the mind with 
ideas of the innumerable solids which its organ, the 
hand, is able to grasp. 

Thus we see from the above examples that an intel- 
lectual faculty is a power which the mind possesses, of 



IN TROD UCTION. I 5 

acting in a specific direction on a single class of objects, 
in order to understand their nature. 

Knowledge of the Faculties : How Gained — It is mani- 
fest, moreover, that a competent knowledge of the in- 
tellectual faculties can be acquired only by studying 
(1) the nature of each faculty, (2) its methods and con- 
ditions of acting, (3) the exclusive objects on which it 
acts, and (4) the peculiar character of the ideas gained 
thereby. For let us keep in mind, respecting this last 
item, that the main purpose of a faculty is to acquire 
new ideas by scrutinizing its legitimate objects. These 
ideas may, moreover, be called the products of the 
faculty from whoso action upon its objects they are the 
result. 

Synopsis. — Let us gather, finally, into a synopsis for 
convenient memorizing, the subjects for study which the 
faculties cited above present in consecutive order. 

SYNOPSIS. 
Faculty. Object. Action. Product. 

Sense of Touch. Tangible Things. Touching or Feel- Ideas of Tan- 

ing. gible Things. 

Sense of Sight. Visible Things. Seeing. Ideas of Vis- 

ible Things. 
Sense of Hearing. Sounds. Hearing, Listen- Ideas of 

ing. Sounds. 

The Human Intellect. — We will close this division of 
our subject by saying that the faculties or powers by 
whose action the mind gains ideas or knowledge of things 
around and within us, constitute together the Human 
Intellect. In other words, the intellect is the mental 
force, which, when exerted through any of its specific 
faculties, gains knowledge of the objects to which the 
mind directs its attention. 



1 6 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

Thinking. — Now the common process or mode of ac- 
tion by which the intellect acquires, through any of its 
faculties, a knowledge of its objects, is called thinking. 
Thinking is the uniform method of procedure by which 
the mind, in the exercise of any intellectual faculty, 
attains or modifies a knowledge of the object on which 
it acts. We shall attend minutely and carefully to the 
operation of thinking, in its proper place. 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER I. 

What are the two kinds of knowledge necessary to the teacher? 
Define a faculty. Give the name of the organ, action, objects, and 
purpose of the sense of hearing. Give the words designating the 
same elements in the sense of sight: also in the sense of touch. 
What four things must we study in order to gain a knowledge 
of any faculty ? Write from memory the synopsis showing the 
order of faculty, object, action, and product in touch, sight, and 
hearing. What is the human intellect ? What is thinking ? 



THE FEELINGS, *7 



<&l)apttt M. 

THE FEELINGS. 

The Mind, a Unit. — Let us clearly comprehend the 
fact that an individual mind is an indivisible unit, that 
it cannot be separated into parts, and that the faculties 
of the intellect are simply its different modes of acting 
upon their objects for the attainment of knowledge. 
These faculties are only the manifestations of intellect- 
ual power. 

Pleasure and Pain. — But the indivisible mind has 
other manifestations than those of intellect. It has the 
capacity to feel as well as to think. Touch a hot stove, 
for example, and there follows instantly a feeling of 
pain, which the mind refers to the fingers brought into 
contact with the heated surface. But spread the hands, 
when benumbed with cold, before a fire, and you have 
a feeling of pleasure. Place a morsel of capsicum on 
the tongue, and a feeling results that is painful. A bit 
of wholesome food, instead, would have produced a feel- 
ing of pleasure. 

But the mind is susceptible of many other feelings 
than those that spring from bodily contact. Threaten- 
ing danger begets a feeling of fear ; personal outrage, a 
feeling of anger. In like manner, an object of suffer- 
ing begets pity. Beauty excites admiration ; deformity, 



1 8 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

aversion. These and many other feelings are awakened 
in the mind, each by its peculiar cause. All feelings 
are either pleasant or painful. 

Feeling Defined. — A feeling, then, is a state of mind, 
pleasant or painful, which is produced by the presence 
of its appropriate cause. It is evident that while the 
faculties of mind are active, the feelings are passive ; 
and it will be seen hereafter that, while the faculties 
are directed by the will, the feelings are not under its 
immediate control. 

Classes of Feelings.— Finally, the feelings are ctivided 
into several classes according to the sources from which 
they spring. 

1. The feelings that arise from bodily contact, are 
called Sensations; such are the sensations of smell, 
taste, and touch. 

2. Feelings that are identical with our bodily desires 
are called Appetites ; such are the appetites of hunger, 
thirst, etc. 

3. The more violent feelings to which we are liable, 
in common with the lower animals, are termed the Pas- 
sions ; such are anger, fear, etc. 

4. The sentiments of sympathy and love for others 
are the Affections. 

5. The feelings that are produced by objects of a more 
elevated character, are named the Emotions ; such are 
the emotions of beauty, grandeur, duty, right, devo- 
tion, etc. 

6. The longings for gratification which frequently at- 
tend the feelings of whatever class are termed, in gen- 
eral, the Desires. 



THE FEELINGS. 1 9 



The Sensibility. — Just as the various faculties by 
whose exercise the mind gains knowledge, constitute 
the intellect, so the sum total of the feelings of which 
the mind is capable, constitute the sensibility. 

The Sensations: How Produced, — The sensations are 
produced by contact of the bodily organs with their ap- 
propriate external media. Thus, the first effect of light 
on the eye, is a sensation. A sound that reaches the 
ear causes a slight sensation. The hand brought into 
contact with snow feels a sensation of cold. A bit of 
food on the tongue begets the sensation of taste. An 
odor that affects the olfactory nerves induces a sensa- 
tion of smell. 

Perception Follows Sensation. — ISTow a sensation is al- 
ways followed by an effort of the intellect to perceive 
its cause. Place, for instance, your hand, in the dark, 
on a fragment of rock and you experience first a sensa- 
tion of roughness. Then you perceive through its re- 
sistance that the object causing this sensation is a rock 
having shape, size, etc. Next follows the idea of this 
particular piece of rock, which may be stored in the 
memory. Sensation, perception, ideas ; this, though it 
all takes place in an instant, is the invariable order of 
out mental experiences. 

The appetites arising from the conditions and wants 
of the body have no fixed relation, in the order of time, 
to intellectual action. 

Other Feelings Follow Knowledge. — The passions, af- 
fections, and higher emotions, however, are always 
awakened by a previous knowledge of the things that 
cause them. Thus, a strain of music strikes my ear and 



20 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

excites a simple sensation of sound. At once I perceive 
and gain a notion of its melody, and an emotion of 
beauty instantly follows. Here, as in all such cases, 
the mental succession is (1) sensation, (2) perception, (3) 
idea or knowledge, (4) emotion. In like manner, the 
passion of fear follows the perception and knowledge of 
danger. 

Desire: What is. — A desire is a feeling which follows 
a sensation, an appetite, an affection, a passion, or an 
emotion. In other words, our desires are produced by 
the feelings, of whatever class, that precede them.~Thus 
the roar of an approaching tornado causes first a sensa- 
tion ; next a perception of the coming whirlwind ; then 
a fear of bodily harm ; and finally, a desire to avoid it. 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER II. 

Is the mind a unit ? Give the two general characteristics of the 
feelings. Define a feeling. Give the different classes of feelings. 
Define the word " sensibility." How are the sensations produced ? 
Explain how perception follows sensation. Explain and illus- 
trate the order of sequence in knowledge and feelings. Define 
and illustrate desire. 



THE WILL AND THE SPONTANEITIES. 21 



THE WILL AND THE SPONTANEITIES. 

Will Power, — Having considered the intellect and the 
sensibility, we now come to the third great manifestation 
of mind, namely, the will. 

Will, the Power of Choice. — The will is the free power 
which the mind has, of choosing from among its desires, 
the desire which it will strive to gratify. This desire is 
called its motive. Thus my appetite excites a desire to 
eat mince pie; but experience of its harmful effect on 
digestion, begets a desire to refrain from eating it. 
Considering the gratification of an appetite on the one 
hand, and the desire to preserve health on the other, 
the will decides that the latter shall be its motive for 
denying the former. In this way, the mind, in the 
exercise of will, is frequently engaged in deliberating 
which one of the desires it feels shall be the motive for 
its action. I wish, for instance, to visit a sick friend; 
to attend a social gathering; and to write urgent letters 
at home. I can do, let us say, but one of these; which 
shall it be? The first is a desire prompted by sympathy; 
the second is a desire for social enjoyment; the third a 
desire to fulfil a business obligation. I consider the 
claims which each of these lines of action has upon me, 
and by the free exercise of my will, determine which I 



22 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

shall follow. I thus decide which of the three desires 
shall become the prevailing motive. 

The Will, the Mind's Propelling Power. — The will is, 
moreover, the mind's propelling power. Not only does 
the will decide upon the line of action which the mind 
shall pursue, bat it directs, controls, and impels to its 
allotted purpose, every faculty employed therein. The 
ball-player decides to engage in the game by an act of 
the will, and it is the will that directs and impels every 
motion of his hand and eye and muscle which the^game 
calls into exercise. In all the processes of earnest think- 
ing, the will tabes command of every intellectual faculty 
engaged therein, and directs it strenuously and per- 
sistently to its proper object. The words decision, en- 
deavor, exertion, effort, aresynonymes which express the 
impulses of the will. Education and culture are the final 
products of sustained and oft-repeated voluntary efforts. 

The Spontaneities. — Any mental movement or act 
which takes place without effort of the will, is called a 
spontaneity, or a spontaneous action ol any facult}\ 
The spontaneous action of any faculty is, in every case, 
occasioned by the presence of its object only. If, when 
my eyes are open, an object, say a flying bird, crosses 
the line of vision, I see it without an effort of the will. 
The act of vision which recognizes the bird is, for an 
instant, a spontaneity, but the will immediately inter- 
venes and impels the faculty of sight to further inspec- 
tion. Here we have, in regular succession, first, the 
presence of the object of vision; secondly, the spontaneous 
or involuntary act of vision; and, thirdly, the impulse 
of the will which changes the instantaneous, involuntary 



THE WILL AND THE SPONTANEITIES. 2$ 

act to a prolonged voluntary one. Both acts are 
expended on the same object. 

Again, if an audible sound, say the music of a flute, 
strikes the ear, the initial act of hearing it awakens, is 
spontaneous. The effort of listening which immediately 
follows this spontaneity, is an act of the will which holds 
the faculty of hearing strictly upon its object. In this 
instance we have: 

1. The object presented to the ear. 

2. The spontaneity awakened thereby. 

3. The effort of will which transforms the spontaneity 
into an act of listening. 

Again, if any sapid substance, say the pulp of a 
lemon, is brought into contact with the tongue, the 
sensation that follows is spontaneous. The will may 
prompt the mind to scrutinize this sensation and its 
cause, but the taste we feel is, in itself, wholly involun- 
tary. The sensations of touch and smell are likewise in- 
voluntary. In fact, if we scrutinize the entire range of 
the mental activities of which the mind is capable, we 
shall find that the action of every faculty begins with a 
spontaneity, producing what is called an act of attention. 
Thus the object and the resulting spontaneity uniformly 
precede any effort of the will. Moreover, the more 
attractive the object presented, the more vigorous and 
complete is the spontaneity that follows, and the more 
earnest and continuous is the effort of the will that is 
incited thereby. 

Spontaneity in Education. — It thus becomes evident 
that, in juvenile education, the true method consists in 
presenting to the senses of the child, objects of such 



24 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

natural interest as will call forth the absorbing spon- 
taneities that incite strong efforts of the will, and so 
finally result in the power of steady attention. 

Feelings Spontaneous Throughout. — We will add that 
while every intellectual act i: spontaneous in its com- 
mencement, the feelings are spontaneous throughout. 
The will has no immediate and direct control over any 
of the sensibilities. Anger, for example, is aroused and 
prolonged by an injury or an insult. The will has no 
power to excite or suppress anger, by any efforts expended 
directly on the feeling itself. Both the existence and 
duration of the feeling are caused wholly by the presence 
of its objects. 

The Will has Indirect Control of Feeling.— Thus, 
though I cannot expel anger from my mind by a direct 
voluntary effort, I can, at any rate, by an act of the 
will, turn bodily and mentally away from the exciting 
cause of it. I can give my attention to other objects 
that awaken feelings of an opposite character, and in 
this way produce the conditions of mind in which anger 
naturally subsides. 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER III. 

Define will as the power of choice. How does a desire become 
a motive? Explain and illustrate the propelling power of the 
will. Give the synonymes that express the impulses of the will. 
What is a spontaneity, and how caused ? Explain and illustrate 
the relation of spontaneous action to will action. Give the order 
of spontaneous and voluntary action. What is the true method 
of inciting the spontaneities in early education ? Give the relation 
of will to the feelings. How does the will control the feelings 
indirectly. 



SENSATION. 25 



<&l)apttv KIT. 
SENSATION. 

Sensation precedes Perception. — In the consecutive 
order of the operations of child-mind when acting on a 
concrete object, sensation precedes perception. 

Sensation of Smell. — I hold in my hand an orange. 
Let us make it an object of exclusive attention, and 
note, with the utmost care, the first effect it produces on 
the organs of sense. When held near the nose, it excites 
at once the olfactory nerves and begets a feeling called 
the sensation of smell. A sensation, you remember, is 
a feeling produced by the contact of a bodily organ with 
one of its own peculiar objects. The sensation under 
scrutiny is caused by contact of odorous particles from 
the orange with the nerves of smell. This sensation is 
located by the mind in the nose, and is moderately 
pleasant. It is moreover of short duration. Withdraw 
the orange, and the sensation disappears, and leaves only 
a dim notion of itself in the memory. Evidently, the 
true purpose of this sensation is to defend the body by 
distinguishing the healthful and harmful qualities in the 
food we eat and the air we breathe. It is also spon- 
taneous. 

Sensation of Taste. — Take now a portion of the pulp 
into the mouth, and the juice it contains, coming in 



26 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

contact with the tongue and palate, produces at once 
another feeling called the sensation of taste. Note care- 
fully the peculiarities of this sensation, and we findthem 
as follows: like the sense of smell, it is due wholly to the 
presence of the object, namely, the liquid of the orange. 
Not being the product of the will, it is spontaneous. 
Caused by a substance that is wholesome, it is pleasant. 
If the substance producing it were deleterious to a healthy 
stomach, it would be painful. It is brief, lasting only 
while the liquid that produces it is in contact with the 
tongue and palate. That withdrawn, it vanishes from 
the organs of taste and leaves merely a faint trace of 
itself in the memory. Evidently, the sensation of taste 
fulfils its purpose in securing nutrition for the body, and 
not in furnishing ideas for the mind. Both taste and 
smell are animal senses, not intellectual senses. They 
supply us with feelings, not with ideas. 

The Sensation of Feeling or Touch. — Next bring the 
tips of the fingers in contact with the surface of the 
orange, and you are instantly conscious of another 
feeling, namely, the sensation of touch. This sensation 
the mind recognizes as located in the ends of the fingers, 
and as being caused by the contact of these with the 
skin of the orange. Since the surface which the fingers 
press is comparatively smooth and soft, the sensation 
produced is slight and painless. If it were hard and 
rough instead, or covered with sharp points, the sen- 
sation would become more pronounced, even painful. 
Suppose I were grasping a fragment of ice instead of an 
orange, I should feel a sensation of cold. Or if we hold 
the hand in water that approaches the boiling point, the 






SENSA TION. 2J 



effect is a sensation of heat. Now, when the surface 
touched is lacerating, or hot, or cold to a degree that 
threatens injury to the organs, the sensation resulting 
is a painful one, thereby warning the mind of danger to 
the body. The purpose, therefore, of the sensation of 
touch, like those of smell and taste, is to aid and protect 
the bodily organs. Vanishing under normal conditions 
with the contact that produced it, it is a brief sensation 
and leaves no distinct notion of itself in memory. This 
sensation of touch does not contribute the kind of 
knowledge that educates the intellect. 

Take notice, however, that the touch which gives us 
a sensation and the touch that gives us a perception of 
external objects are, as we shall see further on, wholly 
different senses. Though acting always in conjunction 
through th£ hand, each employs a different set of nerves. 
, It is sufficient to say here that, in touching the same 
orange, the one yields a sensation, the other an idea. 

The Sensation of Sight. — Our own experience tells us 
that, in the act of seeing, there is very little feeling in 
the eye. In fact, when looking at an object under 
ordinary conditions, our actual vision is attended with a 
sensation so slight as to escape our notice. When we 
look exclusively at the orange, the mind is occupied 
with the outside object perceived, and not with any 
local effect it has on the eye. A sudden increase in the 
intensity of light, a flash of lightning, or an abrupt 
illumination of thick darkness, augments the sensation 
felt in the organ, until we are clearly conscious of it; but, 
at the same time, they diminish the distinctness of per- 
ception in a like ratio. We could not see the orange 



28 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

with equal clearness in a light that was unusually bril- 
liant. 

Thus we learn by trial that the sensation of sight is, 
in circumstances favorable to vision, dim and insignifi- 
cant ; that, unlike the other sensations we have scru- 
tinized, it does not minister to the wants of the body. 
The sense of sight is not, therefore, to say the least, an 
animal sense. Its evident design is to store the mind 
with knowledge of the external world. The organic 
pleasure or pain connected with seeing is very slight. 

Sensation of Hearing. — Pronounce next the w T ord 
orange, and note carefully its effect on the mind. Do 
we not instantly recognize it as an external sound that 
designates the object I hold? Do we give much con- 
scious attention to the mere local effect on the ear, 
which constitutes the sensation of hearing? The truth 
is, the mind, absorbed in the spoken word and its 
meaning, pays little heed to the slight feeling which its 
utterance awakens in the ear. In other words, the main 
office of the sense of hearing is to transmit to the mind 
ideas of the sounds which are produced within its range, 
and the attending sensation is comparatively of little 
account. Still the sensations begotten in the ear by 
sound are somewhat more pronounced than those occa- 
sioned in the eye by light. For, as Hamilton says : 
"We have greater pleasure and greater pain from 
single sounds than from single colors ; and, in like 
manner, concords and discords in the one sense, affect 
us more agreeably or disagreeably than any modifications 
of light in the other. " 

Thus sounds, whose melody and harmony are complete, 



SENSA TIOAT. 2Q 



beget and heighten the pleasant sensations attending 
the act of hearing, while discordant sounds and violent 
noises are equally effective in producing painful ones. 
The sense of hearing is, however, the sole agent through 
which we gain knowledge of sounds and their relations ; 
and the local feeling that accompanies the act of hearing 
is a subordinate element. The principal products of 
this sense are . ideas of sound rather than any organic 
sensation it begets. 

Summary of the Facts gathered respecting Sensations. 
— We have thus found, by the action of each sense on 
the orange, that the resulting sensations differ widely 
both in their intensity and in their purpose. We have 
learned that in smell, taste, and sensitive touch, the sen- 
sations are marked and predominant, while the ideas 
gained therefrom are faint and indistinct. We have dis- 
covered likewise by trial that these sensations, being 
uniformly either pleasant or painful, enable us to dis- 
tinguish between a thing that is helpful and a thing that 
is harmful to the body, and so we are led to seek the 
one and to avoid the other. These facts justify us in 
classifying smell, taste, and sensitive touch as animal 
senses, whose sole purpose is to defend, protect, and 
preserve the body. 

Sensations of Hearing and Seeing slight. — On the con- 
trary we found that the sensations that attend the acts of 
seeing and hearing are comparatively slight and insig- 
nificant, and that they are wholly subordinate to the 
knowledge the mind gains of the external objects of 
sight and hearing. 



30 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

The special characteristics of sensations as revealed by 
the same tests may be summed up as follows : 

1. As bodily states, they are sensual. 

2. As produced in the organs of the senses, they are 
local. 

3. Since they do not usually outlive the presence of 
their objects, they are short in duration. 

4. As guardians of the body, they are common to man 
and the lower animals ; and therefore smell, taste, and 
sensitive touch in which sensation predominates, are 
called the animal senses. 

5. They are spontaneous, and therefore need no 
training hut discreet guidance and wholesome restraint. 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER IV, 

Describe the sensations of smell as caused by the orange, and 
give its several characteristics. Describe and name the several 
characteristics of the sensation of taste as excited by the pulp of 
the orange. Give an account of the sensation of touch as caused 
by contact of the fingers with the orange. What is the common 
purpose of the sensations of smell, taste, and touch? What is the 
character of the sensation that accompanies the act of vision ? 
Illustrate What is the design of the sense of sight? What is 
the effect on the ear when we pronounce the word orange? De- 
scribe the slight sensation that attends the act of hearing, and 
compare it with that of seeing. Summarize the facts we have 
gathered respecting the sensations, and give the reasons for 
naming smell, taste, and sensitive touch the animal senses. Sum 
up the five characteristics of the sensations in the order named. 



SENSE PERCEPTION— GATHERING CONCEPTS. 3 1 



SENSE PERCEPTION.— GATHERING CONCEPTS. 

The Animal Senses do not Gather Ideas. — Let us now 

examine each of the senses, not as the seat of a special 
sensation, but as a faculty by which we gain knowledge 
of outside things. 

And, in the first place, we found that smell, taste, and 
sensitive touch, when brought into contact with their 
respective objects, yield little else than local sensations; 
and that, consequently, these senses are not faculties by 
which we gather into the mind ideas of the world around 
us. The smell of the orange begot a decided sensation, 
but left a dim notion in the memory. The taste of the 
orange awoke a sensation that was still more positive but, 
left behind a negative idea. The touch of the orange, 
as affecting simply the nerves of feeling, produced a 
sensation which was due to temperature or to the con- 
dition of surface. But the mental image of the sensa- 
tion is among our faintest ideas. Hence these three 
senses minister to the wants of the body. They do not 
supply the intellect with its ideas; and, consequently, 
their exercise is not included in any system of intel- 
lectual training. 

Perception through Touch as Affecting the Nerves of 
Motion. Grasp now the orange with the hand and con- 



32 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

centrate your attention upon the effect that follows. Do 
you not perceive that wholly apart from the sensation 
there is a resistance to motion ? Try to shut the fingers 
that enclose the orange, and you fail because of the re- 
sistance it presents. It is their resistance to the free 
motion of the hand, that reveals to us primarily the 
presence of external objects. In infancy, before the eye 
is able to distinguish objects as colored, the hand dis- 
covers their presence as obstructions to motion. Under 
nature's promptings the tiny hand, by countless vibra- 
tions, finally reveals to the infant mind the existence of 
an outside resisting solid. Perceptive touch then is the 
pioneer sense. It is the first discoverer of this external 
world. 

Perception of Shape, etc.— But let us make some 
further tactual experiments on the orange, and note at- 
tentively the results. The orange not only resists the 
closing of the fingers, but resists them in different direc- 
tions. To the thumb, which rests on the upper surface, 
it is a resistance to downward motion. To the opposite 
fingers, it is a resistance to upward motion. Hold or 
handle the orange how we will, the resistance to motion 
is everywhere outward and at equal distances from a 
common centre. The orange is, therefore, perceived to 
be round or globular. If the object clasped were, in- 
stead of an orange, a small cube, the sense of touch 
would perceive by resistance to the pressure of the 
fingers, that it had six plane surfaces, every two of which 
were opposite and parallel to each other. 

Size and Weight. — If the orange I hold were increased 
in volume, the fingers that should try to clasp it would 



SENSE PERCEPTION— GATHERING CONCEPTS 33 

meet the resisting surfaces at a greater distance from the 
common centre, and thus reveal its greater size. If I 
lay the orange on the palm of one hand and an iron ball 
of equal size on the palm of the other, the degree of re- 
sistance to upward motion that each would make, would 
disclose its comparative weight. Thus Perceptive Touch 
discovers the presence of an external object by its abso- 
lute resistance to motion of the hand ; perceives its shape 
or figure by the relative direction of resistance which its 
surfaces present to the exploring fingers; determines its 
size by the distance of its resisting surfaces from its 
centre; and finds its weight by its resistance to upward 
motion, in other words, by its downward pressure. In 
this manner, perceptive touch gives us our first knowl- 
edge of the outside objects that surround us. As an 
intellectual sense, it precedes both sight and hearing in 
the notions it transmits to the mind, of the forms with 
which we come in contact. 

Touch, a Double Sense. — From the above fact, it is clear 
that touch is a double sense, or rather two senses located 
in one organ, the hand. In the one, contact with an 
object begets, by its temperature or condition of surface, 
a pure sensation. In the other, contact with an object 
afford, us, by its resistance to freS motion, a pure per- 
ception of an external resisting solid. In the first sense, 
contact affects the nerves of feeling which run from the 
surface of the body, and especially from the fingers' ends, 
to the brain. In the second sense, contact affects the 
nerves of motion which run from the brain to the mus- 
cles and especially to the hand. The product of the 
first is a feeling, which suggests only a dim notion of 



34 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

its cause. The product of the second is a distinct per- 
ception of a resisting solid, which has shape, size, 
weight, length, breadth and thickness. The office of 
the one is to guard the body ; of the other, to supply the 
mind with the ideas of the outside world. For the pur- 
pose of designating these distinct offices which they per- 
form together in the same contact, we may call the first, 
sensational touch, and the second, perceptive touch. 

Perceptive Touch, an Instrument of Expression. — But 
perceptive touch is not only the means by which we gain 
our earliest ideas of the outside world, but it is, in a very 
wide sense, an instrument of expression. The hand 
with its flexible fingers, embodies the best ideas of the 
race in material forms. It expresses in colors and 
characters and figures, what the mind has previously 
conceived. All the manual arts and handicrafts are, in 
this sense, the product of the human hand. Without 
its help, the arts of drawing, writing, printing, jpainting, 
sculpture, architecture, and many industries could never 
have existed. In fact it is hardly an' exaggeration to say 
that civilization owes its origin and progress to the 
human hand. Still the hand is only the obedient ser- 
vant of the will, the active agent of the mind in expres- 
sing its concrete idea^ 

Manual Training. — Now, does it not occur to you that 
a sense which is so important to the individual and so 
prolific of results to the world, should be trained with 
the utmost thoroughness ? Is it not clear also that, since 
perceptive touch, of all the intellectual senses, comes 
first into action, it should receive the first formal train- 
ing given to the child ? I need not dwell here upon the 



SENSE PERCEPTION— GATHERING CONCEPTS. 35 

manifest principle, that touch as a means of gaining 
ideas from without, and touch as a means of trans- 
muting ideas into matter, will both be trained primarily 
by the same exercises. Nor need I more than allude to 
the obvious fact that touch must be trained largely by 
practice on its own products, namely, the manual arts. 
The rudiments of drawing and writing are, at any rate, 
the first steps' in manual training; and these steps ought, 
in the order of nature, to precede and lead to the 
earliest lessons in reading and spelling. 

Perception through the Sense of Sight. — Hold now the 
orange before the eyes, look steadfastly at it, and con- 
sider carefully the nature of the mental act involved. 
You say that you see the orange. Precisely what does 
this act of seeing the orange consist of ? In seeing the 
orange, is your mind occupied with a sensation or feeling 
which is produced in the eye ? Or does your mind, in the 
act of seeing, concentrate its attention on the external 
thing which is the object of sight ? Clearly your atten- 
tion is fixed on the orange and the act is an act of per- 
ception ly sight. The faculty in this case is the sense of 
sight ; the act of this faculty is seeing; and the object 
is the orange. What is the result of this act of seeing 
the orange ? Manifestly, it is a notion of the orange, 
which, while the act of seeing continues, we call a per- 
cept of the orange. 

Thus, I repeat, when I present the orange to your 
eyes, four things are involved in the operation that fol- 
lows; namely, (1.) The faculty of sight. (2.) The ob- 
ject of sight, the orange. (3.) The act of seeing. (4.) 
The product of seeing, which is the percept of the 



$6 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

orange. Faculty; object; action; product; this is the 
invariable order in the exercise of every intellectual 
faculty; and, let me say here, with all the emphasis I can 
command, that, throughout the whole domain of mind, 
it is the action that educates the faculty which puts it 
forth. 

Sight : How Trained. — The sense of sight must be 
trained to its greatest range and acuteness by repeated 
and complete acts of seeing, just as judgment must be 
trained by acts of judging, or reason by acts of mason- 
ing. This is one of the fundamental principles in the 
science of education. 

What is it We See. — Again, with our eyes fixed on the 
orange, let us ask precisely what is it that we see ? Fas- 
tening my eyes again on the orange, I see first the color, 
which is yellow. I see also on the yellow surface, slight 
variations of light and shade, which enable me to per- 
ceive that the shape of the half on which the eye dwells 
is that of a hemisphere. Withdraw wholly the sensation 
of light and shade, and also the auxiliary perception of 
touch, and the part which now presents itself to the eye 
as a hemisphere, which is round, would present itself as 
a circle, which is flat. 

How do We See Solids ? — The image of the half-orange 
on the retina of the eye, is a colored picture having out- 
line and length and breadth but, of course, not thick- 
ness. The mind can, therefore, perceive in this picture 
primarily the two properties that give us surface, namely, 
length and breadth. But the mind cannot perceive di- 
rectly in the retinal picture, the third property, which, 
with the first two gives, us a solid ; namely, thickness. 



SENSE PERCEPTION— GATHERING CONCEPTS. 37 

The variation of light and shade which are the signs of 
thickness or solidity are, to be sure, present in the reti- 
nal picture ; but the mind does not know in the begin- 
ning what these signs mean. 'From what source does 
the mind of the infant first learn that light and shade as 
perceived by the eye, mean solidity and shape ? The 
infant eyes see light and shade in the retinal picture at 
a period when the infant hands have already discovered 
the shapes of external solids. It is the hand then that 
teaches the eye, in countless primary lessons, that light 
and shade signify shape. And having learned that the 
differences of light and shade on the surfaces of solids, 
indicate their individual figures, the eye forever after 
infers shape from color with a rapidity that outstrips the 
lightning's flash. In fact, the modifications of color 
called light and shade, and the modifications of shape 
they indicate, are so welded together in the mind's ex- 
perience, that, in the act of vision, it scarcely distin- 
guishes the one from the other. 

No Sight-Perception of Colorless Objects. — But if, after 
the above analysis of early vision, any one of you doubts 
that the eye sees colors only and infers the solids they 
depict, the question may be settled by trying the follow- 
ing experiment. Hold the orange before the eyes in a 
room where the darkness is so great as to entirely oblit- 
erate its colors. Strive as you will to see the orange in 
the absence of its colors, you will utterly fail. The color- 
less orange has wholly disappeared from perceptive vision, 
while to perceptive touch, it is as clear and as distinct 
as before. The reason is that the darkness has with- 
drawn the colors of the orange, which are the exclusive 



38 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

objects of sight, and left unaltered the solid figure which 
is the exclusive object of perceptive touch. The eye, 
then, I repeat, perceives color, including light and shade. 
The hand perceives solids only, and teaches the eye by 
countless instances repeated without stint, that the vari- 
ations of light and shade indicate the corresponding 
variations of shape. 

Effect of long Experience. — I hardly need to add that 
you and I, who are scrutinizing this orange, have been 
trained by a host of experiences to perceive form through 
color by a single quick impulse, which we do not divide 
in thought. We have seen thousands of oranges before 
this one, and innumerable other colored solids besides. 
Our sense of sight was taught by touch even in early in- 
fancy to perceive form by the invariable indications of 
light and shade that lie upon its surface. Through all 
our subsequent lives, we have perceived colors and the 
forms they reveal to the eye, as constantly united. Not 
in a single instance has touch discovered a form that is 
colorless, or our sight a color that does not lie upon the 
surface of a solid. Of all the countless figures we hold 
in memory, we cannot recall one that is free from color. 
Color and form are among the closest and most inflexi- 
ble of all our associations. Only the man who is totally 
blind from birth, can either perceive or conceive an ob- 
ject that has the outlines of figure, but is colorless. 

Rapidity and Range of the Sense of Sight. — But the 
characteristics that distinguish the sense of sight from 
the other intellectual senses, are its wonderful scope and 
swiftness. So rapid and comprehensive are its move- 
ments, that it collects a far greater number of concepts 



SENSE PERCEPTION— GATHERING CONCEPTS. 39 

from the world without than the other intellectual 
senses. So minute and accurate is its action, that the 
ideas it supplies to the mind are the most distinct and 
vivid of all our mental furniture. It can inspect at will 
the pistil of a flower, or, with a sweep of the eye, gather 
in an .'entire landscape; and the subsequent operations of 
intellect consist largely in working up these concepts 
into the higher forms of thought. In fact, the concepts 
of sight surpass in number and clearness all our concepts 
from whatever source. 

Value of Eye-Training. — How vital then to a complete 
education is it that the eye of a child should be trained 
to the utmost efficiency and acuteness. How important 
that a sense which is the chief agent for furnishing the 
mind with its materials for thinking, should be disci- 
plined by systematic practice. There is no greater ob- 
stacle to genuine intellectual progress than the habit 
of careless observation. If our sight-concepts are vague 
and incomplete, all the processes of analysis, imagina- 
tion, and reasoning of which they are the objects, will 
be of a like character. The power and habit of seeing 
exhaustively the elements of every visible thing on which 
the eye falls, are the prime requisites of a complete edu- 
cation. 

Means of Training the Eye. — The means of training 
the sense of sight lie around us in unlimited abundance. 
Nature presents a countless host of objects, whose simple 
beauty attracts constantly the eyes of the child. All 
the products of imagination, which the hand has clothed 
in the material forms of art, appeal likewise to his sense 
of sight; and judicious selection from these two sources, 



40 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

arranged in a series which begins with the simplest 
specimens and rises gradually to the more complex, are, 
under the guidance of the intelligent teacher, the means 
of accomplishing the purpose in hand. 

Perception of Sound through the Sense of Hearing — 
Summing up of Sight and Touch. — Eesuming our scrutiny 
of the orange, we find, of course, that it contains no 
element which appeals to the sense of hearing. Contact 
of the orange with the nose, tongue, and fingers, gave us 
local sensations which were clear at the time of^ their 
production, but dim in subsequent memory. The same 
contact of the orange with the fingers, that excited the 
sensation of touch, revealed also a resistance to motion. 
It was through this resistance, that the mind primarily 
perceived the orange as an external body having shape 
and size. This act makes the sense of touch a means of 
transmitting to the mind ideas from the world without. 
With its capacity to feel sensations, it has also the 
power to perceive the facts that resistance to motion re- 
veals. The local sensation of touch is & passive element; 
the power to gather and give to the mind a knowledge 
of solids and shapes, is an active element. Touch, as 
passive, is sensational touch. Touch, as active, is per- 
ceptive touch. Each has a purpose of its own wholly 
unlike that of the other. The one guards the body from 
danger ; the other stores the mind with knowledge. 

But when we presented the orange to the eye, we in- 
stantly found that the sense of sight does not perform 
the double office that is conspicuous in touch. The 
sight was at once absorbed in the act of seeing the 
orange, and had no conscious sensation in the organ 



SENSE PERCEPTION— GATHERING CONCEPTS. 4 1 

employed. It perceived all the modifications of color, 
of light and shade, which the orange displays, as the 
signs of its shape and size. It is exclusively, therefore, 
a perceptive sense whose sole purpose is to collect and 
transmit to the mind, concepts of the endless variety of 
forms that present their colors to the eye. 

Sense of Hearing. — But when we come to the sense of 
hearing we must drop the orange for the time. But, 
though the orange has no properties that appeal to the 
ear, it is connected with an audible sound by the closest 
and most compact of all associations, to-wit : that of a 
thing and its name. 

Triple Effect of a Significant Word. — Kemoving from 
sight the orange, pronounce the word, orange, and note 
carefully the triple effect it instantly produces : (1) It 
excites a feeling in the ear which is feeble, yet more pro- 
nounced than that of the eye. (2) It calls forth an act 
of hearing, in which the mind perceives distinctly the 
sound as outside of itself. (3) It recalls from memory 
a distinct and vivid concept of the visible thing of 
which it is the name. The name being uttered, I in- 
stantly feel the slight auricular sensation, perceive the 
external sound that caused it, and recall the concept of 
the thing which the sound designates. All this takes 
place in a flash so subtle, that I do not consciously dis- 
tinguish one part from another. But the act that was 
most obviously performed by the ear, was the hearing of 
an external sound. A concept of this sound, orange, 
survives in memory the act of hearing, and can be re- 
called when needed. 

Hearing, an Intellectual Sense. — The sense of hearing, 



42 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

then, since it gathers ideas for the mind, is an intel- 
lectual sense ; slower, indeed, than the sense of sight, 
but indispensable to the use of spoken language. The 
concepts of sounds gained from this sense, are less dis- 
tinct than those of sight. I can recall this moment the 
iound of my brother's voice, but I can recall his face 
and figure far more distinctly. 

The Ear how Trained. — Evidently the ear is trained 
most effectively in childhood by means of sounds that 
are attractive. Music is a potent factor in giving deli- 
cacy and facility to the sense it exercises. Beginning 
with the melody of simple verse, the child may be 
taught by imitation the practice of elementary singing, 
always using appropriate words, and gradually advancing 
from short rudimentary exercises, to the higher forms of 
melody and harmony. 

But the juvenile ear is disciplined with even greater 
effect, by the exercise of reading and speaking. It is 
the utterance of the child's own tongue that, if correct, 
sharpens and quickens his sense of hearing. In learn- 
ing to talk, the infant's ear keeps pace with his organs 
of speech ; and every word he speaks calls into action 
both the tongue and the ear. Any defect of the one 
will beget a defect in the other. In all the exercises 
that develop the vocal organs, it is, therefore, of the ut- 
most moment that utterance should be incessantly and 
carefully practiced. 

The Percept. — The percept is the instantaneous pres- 
ent product of the act of touching, seeing, or hearing 
any object within the range of the senses. I take the 
orange in my hand and hold it before my eyes. The 



SENSE PERCEPTION— GATHERING CONCEPTS 43 

present idea which I gain in the act, is a percept of the 
orange. A percept, then, is the immediate mental effect 
of perceiving any external thing by the act of touch, 
sight, or hearing, or from all these senses acting together, 
In perceiving the orange, I have, at this moment, the 
notion of solidity, shape, and weight from touch ; the 
notion of color, light and shade, and figure from sight ; 
and the notion of its name from hearing. These notions, 
gained by the mind through the simultaneous action of 
touch, sight, and hearing, are all united in the one per- 
cept. Associated with this percept is a dim memory of 
its smell, taste, etc. 

But remember that the percept lasts only while the 
senses are engaged on the object of which it is the dupli- 
cate. Eemove the orange from sight and touch, and 
the percept of the orange instantly becomes a concept of 
the orange. Thus assuming the orange as hitherto un- 
known, name, handle, and scrutinize it until your per- 
cept is complete. Then lay the orange aside out of the 
range of the senses, and what is left in your mind? 
Have you not a mental picture or concept of the orange, 
a concept whose distinctness is precisely in proportion 
to the distinctness of the percept from which it is de- 
rived? Thus the clearness and completeness of the 
concept of any external object depends on the clearness 
and completeness of the percept of that object, and the 
percept depends in turn for its clearness and complete- 
ness, on the vigorous action of the senses of which it was 
the product. To be more specific, my mental picture or 
concept of the orange borrows its distinctness from the 
percept of the orange ; and this percept gained its dis- 



44 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

tinctness from the thoroughness and frequency where- 
with I handled, scrutinized, and named the orange itself. 

Thus we see the unspeakable importance of manual, 
visual, and vocal training. To train the perceptive 
senses, is to increase the number and precision of the 
ideas they furnish. When will the teacher learn that 
the clearness of the concepts gained by the pupil, is of 
far more value than their number ? 

The following order in the mental operations we have 
considered thus far, may be committed to memory : 

Faculty. Object. Action. Product. 

The Intellectual ^ j Touching, j 

Senses. Grange. \ { Se^ng.^ j. Percept. 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER V. 

Show that the animal senses do not gather ideas. In what 
manner does the sense of touch give us our first knowledge of a 
solid? How does the handling of an orange reveal its shape? 
Also its size and weight? How is perceptive touch related to 
sight and hearing in the order of its first action? Explain the two 
different effects of contact which make touch a double sense. 
Discriminate and name the two different products of touch as a 
double sense. Give the distinctions between sensitive touch and 
perceptive touch. In what way is the hand an instrument of ex- 
pression? Give the reasons and the means for early manual train- 
ing. What does the act of seeing the orange consist of? Name 
the faculty, object, act, and product in scrutinizing the orange, 
What is it that educates a faculty ? When looking at an orange 
what is it precisely what we see? How is the sense of sight 
trained? What qualities of the orange do we perceive directly, 
and what qualities do we infer? What does the hand teach the 
eye? Repeat the experiment showing that the eye perceives the 



SENSE PERCEPTION—GATHERING CONCEPTS. 45 

modifications of color only. What is the effect of long experi- 
ence in quickening the perception of form through color? How 
does sight compare with touch and hearing in its rapidity, range, 
and in the number of ideas it gathers? Why should the eye be 
rained? What are the means for training the eye? Give a sum- 
mary of the facts gathered from contact of the orange with the 
tose, tongue, and fingers. Distinguish between touch as passive 
and touch as an active sense. Why is sight regarded as exclusively 
a perceptive sense? What is the association by which a word is 
connected to the object it denotes? Give the triple effect which 
the pronouncing of a significant word produces. Which of the 
three effects is the principal one and what is its product? What is 
the relative distinctness of the concepts gained from hearing and 
those gained from sight? What are the natural means of training 
the ear? Define the percept of the orange, and say what elements 
in it were gained primarily from touch and what from sight. 
Under what condition does the percept of the orange become the 
concept of the orange? On what does the concept, orange, de- 
pend for its clearness and completeness? On what does the per- 
cept depend for the same properties? Give the order of object, 
action, and product of the intellectual senses. 



46 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 



Chapter TTJL 

MEMORY AND CONCEPTION. 

THE TWO FACULTIES THAT RETAIK AND INTENSIFY 
THE CONCEPT WITHOUT MODIFYING IT. 

Memory — Acquiring the Concept. — Again, I pronounce 
the name orange, and its picture or concept is con- 
sciously and distinctly before your minds. Hold it there 
persistently while you seek a moment's relief from psy- 
chological effort, by reading from the Bigelow Papers, a 
stanza whose gist goes to show that war and Christianity 
are antagonistic in spirit : 

"Parson Wilbur, he, says he never hearn tell in his life, 
That the 'postles trained raound in their swaller-tailed coats, 

And followed on arter a drum or a fife 
To get some on 'em office and some on 'em votes, 
But John P. 
Robinson, he, 
Says they didn't know everything down in Judee." 

Now, did you hold the concept of the orange con- 
sciously in mind while reading the above stanza ? If 
not, into what region did it vanish? Manifestly, the 
concept of the orange vanished into memory, which 
held it in such wise that you were no longer conscious of 
its presence. But when the concept, orange, vanished 
into memory, was it wholly lost from your mind ? As- 
suredly not. Otherwise, it would not be in your mental 



MEMORY AND CONCEPTION. 47 

grasp at the present moment. It disappeared from your 
conscious notice when you gave your attention to 
LowelPs humor. It escaped notice and lapsed into 
memory at that particular instant, because the mind 
cannot attend at once to two things that are radically 
different. It was retained in memory during the inter- 
val in which your attention was centred upon the poem, 
and it was recalled from memory by the sound of its 
name. The mind turning its attention to other objects, 
the concept, orange, was acquired by memory, and then 
recalled from memory by the utterance of its name. 

The Three Acts of Memory Spontaneous and Uncon- 
scious. — Let us now scrutinize two characteristics which 
the three successive acts of acquiring, retaining, and 
recalling the concept, orange, have in common. 

First : They were spontaneous or automatic opera- 
tions. That is, the concept, orange, was acquired, re- 
tained by memory and recalled at separate times, by no 
effort of yours. They were self-acting movements of 
the concept. 

Secondly : The acts of acquiring, retaining, and re- 
calling the concept, orange, were unconscious acts. 
That is, from the instant it escaped the mind's notice, 
to the instant it was again recognized as recalled from 
memory, the mind was not aware of the changes in 
which it was acquired, retained, and recalled to conscious 
notice. The three operations of memory, then, are uni- 
formly spontaneous and unconscious throughout. 

Concept Retained by Association. — Further, by what 
means was the concept, orange, retained in memory 
during the interval between the instant of acquiring 



48 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY, 

and the instant of recalling it ? The clear fact is, it 
was retained by the connection with other concepts held 
in the memory along with it. 

Sign and Thing Signified. — For example, the concept, 
orange, is closely associated with the name orange, by 
which sound it was just now recalled. This union in 
memory of a concept and its name is called the associa- 
tion of " sign and the thing signified." Such is the asso- 
ciation which connects in memory all words with the 
things they designate, and without it language would not 
be possible. It is manifest that, without a concept 
of the thing named, the name itself would be meaningless. 
Hence the reason for the maxim in early teaching : 
" Things must be taught before names." 

Whole and Parts. — But the concept, orange, has in 
memory other associations than that of its name. If, 
when I am intent on other matters, you show me a bit 
of orange peel, I instantly recall the entire concept of 
which the peel is a part. The result will be the same if, 
instead of the peel, you exhibit a fragment of the orange, 
say an eighth, a third, or a fourth. Evidently the 
fragment is closely associated with the entire concept, 
orange, and thereby serves as a means of retaining and 
recalling it. So also a lock of hair often recalls the 
concept of a face we desire to remember. This lock is 
associated in memory with the concept of the person 
whose head it once adorned, and so, when seen, it in- 
stantly recalls the concept of that person. This is 
termed the association of " whole and parts." The 
mind uses the same association to retain concepts in 
memory and to recall concepts from memory. 



MEMORY AND CONCEPTION. 49 

Time and Place. — Another association which is prom- 
inent as a means of retaining and recalling individual 
concepts, is the time when and the place where they were 
gained by an act of perception. For instance, some 
months hence, when your thoughts recur to this week 
and this place, they will probably recall with a flash, 
the concept of the orange which was then and there the 
object of psychological inspection. This special agency 
in retaining in memory and recalling therefrom the sin- 
gle concepts gathered by the senses, is termed the 
association of " time and place. " 

Resemblance. — Once more, any concept which memory 
unconsciously holds, is retained and recalled by means 
of other concepts that are similar to it in their qualities 
or characteristics. Thus, a picture of the so-often-in- 
spected orange, wherever and whenever seen, would recall 
its concept vividly to mind by the resembling colors. 
Another orange of twice the size, though observed a 
thousand miles away, would have a like effect. These 
are examples of the ^ association of " resemblance " that 
supplies the means by which the vast multitude of indi- 
vidual things that lie around us and incite the senses to 
action, are arranged in classes, each of which is desig- 
nated by a single term called a common noun. 

Other Associations. — The above are examples of con- 
cepts connected with each other and held in memory by 
the relations of a thing with its name ; a whole with its 
parts ; a thing as located in time and place ; and a thing 
with things that are similar. But the four associations 
given are only prominent specimens of the many ties by 



SO TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

which ideas are held in memory and recalled to conscious 
attention. 

Principles in the Science of Education. — Let us close 
this article with the statement of a few obvious princi- 
ples in the training of memory which belong to the 
science of education. 

1. All the faculties, except memory, are disciplined by 
persistent and repeated acts of attention to their objects. 
Attention, as we already know, is the act of a faculty 
impelled by the will. The sense of sight, for example, 
is trained not by dawdling and desultory looking at 
things, but by the close and reiterated acts of inspection 
that are directed by will-power. 

2. But the three acts of memory are, as we have seen, 
wholly spontaneous or involuntary; that is, they take 
place without the agency of the will. Moreover, the acts 
of memory are unconscious ; that is, the mind does not 
know or notice their occurrence. It is clear for these 
reasons, that memory cannot be trained, like the other 
faculties, by the application of will-power to quicken 
and intensify directly the acts of acquiring, retaining, 
and recalling a concept. For these acts, being spon- 
taneous and unconscious, are entirely beyond the reach 
of the will. 

3. Memory, then, can be trained only by the number of 
clear and complete concepts which it acquires through the 
strenuous action of the other faculties. It is disciplined 
not by its own acts, but by the idea sit acquires. I may 
add that memory is rendered still more accurate and 
ready by frequent repetition of the strenuous efforts that 
furnish the clear and complete concepts which constitute 



MEMORY AND CONCEPTION. 5 I 

its best material. The concepts retained in memory 
have a constant tendency to fade, but their distinctness 
may be restored and preserved by reiterating the acts of 
the faculty that produced them. By frequently hand- 
ling and naming the orange, the little child is finally 
enabled to retain its picture in memory, and to recall it 
whenever any of the springs of the association that sur- 
round it are touched. The distinctness and tenacity 
with which memory holds the concept, orange, in our 
minds, obviously depends upon the repeated and thorough 
efforts of the senses that exhausted its properties and 
parts. When will the teacher appreciate the import- 
ance of frequent and perfect reviews ? When will 
he see clearly that one idea, which contains all the prop- 
erties, parts, and relations of the thing it duplicates, is 
more effective in training the intellect of the pupil, 
than a host of ideas that are vague and dim ? 

CONCEPTION. 

All Acts Begin as Spontaneities. — Before explaining 
briefly the nature of the conceptive faculty, let me call 
your attention once more to a few significant facts, 
which are of great weight in the science of education. 
If we consider carefully the acts of any faculty we have 
studied, we shall find that this act was spontaneous in 
the start. 

When the concept, orange, was recalled from your 
memory by hearing its name, the instantaneous act of 
recognition that followed was a purely spontaneous one. 
It was the conscious presence of the concept that in- 
cited the act of recognition, and not any impulse of the 



52 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

will. So, when I first displayed the orange to your 
eyes, the initial act of seeing it was spontaneous. In- 
deed, you could not, at the instant, help seeing it. It 
was the presence of the orange alone that initiated the 
act of perceiving it. Then the will supervened, and,, 
with more or less strain, held the act persistently upon 
its object. 

Attention, the Application of Will-Force. — Now, as 
we have said before, this application of will- force, which 
makes any spontaneous mental act persistent-and ef- 
fective, is called attention. And since every faculty is 
educated by strenuous acts of attention directed to its 
object, it is obvious that attention is a prime factor in 
the attainment of mental discipline. 

Attention, then, is spontaneity plus will-force. All the 
acts of attention contain, therefore, two elements in vary- 
ing proportions. In the educated mind, except in the 
intervals of relaxation, the will-force dominates and di- 
rects spontaneity. In the minds of savages and chil- 
dren the spontaneities predominate. The child, in his 
earliest rudimentary thinking, perceives, imagines, classi- 
fies, and reasons vaguely but spontaneously. And one 
of the problems of mind-growth is how to turn these 
elementary spontaneities into persistent and habitual 
acts of attention. 

Ratio of Will-Force to Spontaneity. — But, as we have 
seen, the faculties of the same mind differ in the ratio 
of spontaneity to will-force, which their acts exhibit. 
The senses, for instance, have more automatic action 
than the reasoning faculty. The three operations of 
memory are wholly automatic, and the operations of 






MEMORY AND CONCEPTION. 53 

imagination are, as we shall see, largely of the same 
character. 

Conception : What is it ? — The faculty of conception 
contains generally, in its action, a union of spontaneity 
and will-force not unlike that of the senses. Concep- 
tion is the faculty that grasps and holds distinctly be- 
fore the mind, a concept recalled from memory. It is 
the province of conception simply to receive from 
memory and vividly picture to the mind, the concept 
which is its object. Thus the concept, orange, recalled 
to the mind after the reading of Lowell's stanza, pre- 
sented itself spontaneously to conception and excited 
automatic action. Then an impulse of the will im- 
parted a vigor and persistence to this action, that ren- 
dered the concept under scrutiny, vivid and distinct. 
All this took place in a subtle instant that makes my 
attempt to describe it, bungling and slow. If the con- 
cept, orange, when recalled from memory, had awakened 
only a languid spontaneity, it would have eluded the 
grasp of the conceptive faculty, and glided dimly, like a 
vanishing spectre, back into unconscious memory. 

Interest and Reiteration produce Distinct Concepts. — 
Eecall now the concept of a familiar face, your mother's 
for example, and let your power of conception fasten 
upon it with the grip of an earnest attention. How 
clear the familiar expression; how distinct the outlines; 
how complete in all the details of form and feature. 
Substitute, for an instant, a concept of the face of a 
comparative stranger, and your utmost effort fails to 
make it so definite and real. The reason is obvious. 
The first concept has been gained and perfected by a 
thousand acts of perception. It has been associated in 



54 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

memory with countless tokens of affection. The second 
concept lacking such incentives to conception, is one of 
those feeble and fleeting notions that soon fade from the 
memory and leave no trace behind. 

Obviously, the young pupil, in gathering his first stock 
of lucid and staple ideas, needs the spur of these two 
incentives, namely, interest and repetition. The objects 
which engage his attention should be naturally attrac- 
tive. Out of the multitude of things that appeal to the 
senses of the child, those only should be used as stimu- 
lants to early attention, which combine the elements of 
simplicity, novelty, and beauty. Eegular solids for the 
hand; attractive colors and figures for the eye; the 
simplest melodies for the ear; these are among the 
objects from which the child gathers his earliest distinct 
perceptions of an outside world. And the clear percepts 
that result, cling to his memory ; which restores them in 
the form of vivid concepts, and so supplies valid materials 
for the processes of thought. 

Memory and Conception depend on Sense Perception. — 
Thus a tenacious and ready memory, and a vigorous and 
vivid conception, are alike the products of a sense per- 
ception that is facile and accurate. The power of con- 
ceiving an idea with lucid distinctness, is acquired (1) 
by strenuous and reiterated efforts in the acts of con- 
ceiving that which is before the mind, and (2) by the 
clear and complete concepts obtained through memory 
from the senses. Conception, fastening with instinctive 
eagerness upon ideas of such a character, attains finally, 
through reiterated efforts that constantly increase in 
vigor, its highest, widest culture. 

Synopsis. — Let us now inspect minutely and commit 



MEMORY AND CONCEPTION. 



55 



to memory the following synopsis, which shows the 
uniform succession of the operations thus far described. 



Faculty. 



Object. 



Product. 



Action. 
j Touching. 
Sense Perception. External Object. ■< Seeing. 

( Hearing. 



Memory. 
Conception, 



Percept. 



( Recalling, j 
. Unconscious Conceiving Conscious 

Concrete Concept. 5 * Concrete Concept. 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VI. 

When the concept, orange, vanished into memory, was it utterly 
lost? What is the proof that it was not lost? What recalled it 
from memory? What are the two characteristics which the three 
acts of memory have in common? By what means was the con- 
cept, orange, retained in memory until recalled? What associa- 
tions connect words with the things they designate? Give the 
order of learning the names of things. Explain the association of 
whole and parts; of time and place; of resemblance. Why can 
not the memory be trained like the other faculties, by intensifying 
its own acts? How then can memory be trained? What is the 
value of reviews? 

What is the character of all initial intellectual acts? 

CONCEPTION. 

What are the two elements that constitute attention? Explain 
how the ratio of will-force to spontaneity varies in different 
faculties. Also in different minds. Define conception and illus- 
trate by the concept, orange. Effect of interest and reiteration 
on the distinctness of concepts. Give illustration. What objects 
stimulate the attention of children? By what two means is the 
power of lucid conception acquired ? Repeat the synopsis show- 
ing the invariable sequence of mental operations thus far. 



56 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 



Chapter VIM. 

ANALYSIS AND ABSTRACTION. 

FACULTIES THAT INSPECT AND MODIFY THE CONCRETE 
CONCEPT AND DERIVE ADDITIONAL IDE A*T THERE- 
FROM. ANALYSIS. 

The Concrete Concept — Its Origin Reviewed. — The in- 
tellectual senses, by their combined action, produce in 
our minds the percept of the orange. The percept, be- 
coming a concept in the absence of the orange, was un- 
consciously received, retained, and restored by memory 
to the conscious grasp of conception. The conceptive 
power now holds the concept, orange, in vivid distinct- 
ness before our mental vision. Its presence naturally 
incites the mind to further action. The question now 
is, what is the next operation which the mind will in- 
stinctively perform upon it ? 

The Concept Duplicates the Percept. — The concept, 
orange, is, if perfect, the exact transcript of the orange 
itself. The orange is composed of parts and properties, 
and is called therefore a concrete object. The concept 
contains or represents these parts and properties, and 
is called a concrete concept for the same reason. The 
number of parts and properties in the concept, orange, 
now under scrutiny of the conceptive power, is precisely 



ANALYSIS AND ABSTRACTION. $7 

equal to those of the percept, orange, unless some of 
these have been lost in memory. If the percept had 
gathered and transmitted to the concept all the elements 
contained in the orange, then the concept would be 
absolutely complete and perfect. But such a concept is 
an ideal one, which the human mind never reaches, but 
which it can approach through discipline and culture. 

Analysis of the Concrete Concept. — But whether the 
properties and parts of the concept, orange, be greater 
or less in number and distinctness, the next instinctive 
act of mind is to inspect each one of these apart from 
the rest. Especially when this instinctive act of analysis 
is impelled by the will, the mind concentrates its atten- 
tion upon each of the properties and parts in succession, 
and acquires, in this way, a number of new concepts 
which are associated in memory thereafter as " whole 
and parts." The act of analysis then naturally centres 
upon the concept, orange, while in the grasp of the con- 
ception, and discriminates each of its parts, such as the 
peel, pulp, juice, seeds, etc. A similar scrutiny reveals 
also its properties, as color, shape, size, figure, flavor, 
weight, etc. Clearly, all these products of anaylsis are 
so many individual concepts of parts and properties com- 
prised in the concept, orange, and they are expressed in 
such sentences as, The orange is round; The orange is 
yellow; etc. 

Analysis either Spontaneous or Strenuous. — This act of 
analyzing a concrete concept is, like all intellectual acts, 
either spontaneous and desultory, or energetic and thor- 
ough. The child's analysis of the concept, orange, unless 
guided by the teacher, would bring out only the more 



58 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

obvious elements which his senses had gathered sponta- 
neously. The analysis of the same concept by the sci- 
entist, being a systematic effort, is comparatively ex- 
haustive. Indeed, it is often extended to the limits of 
human knowledge. 

Analysis of the Concept a Repetition. — Evidently this 
act of analyzing the concept is only a more definite and 
explicit repetition of the previous act of analyzing the 
percept. For, as we have said, the concept contains 
only the elements which were gathered in the percept, 
while its object is under the scrutiny of the senses. 
For example, the concept, orange, can contain no ele- 
ments which were not gathered along with the percept, 
while the orange was the object of sight and touch. 

The Object Lesson Preparatory. — In fact the object 
lesson is nothing else than the perceiving by sight and 
touch, and the naming of the qualities and parts of an 
object when analyzed. Thus the object lesson, and all 
similar processes in teaching, are effective in training the 
pupil for the subsequent analysis of the concept, which 
requires a more strenous effort of attention. Here, as 
elsewhere, the fundamental requisite is the antecedent 
training of the senses. For, through the effective action 
of the senses alone can the mind have gathered those 
concepts, which comprise, in measurable fulness and 
clearness, the properties and parts of the external objects 
they represent. 

Analysis, how Trained as a Faculty. — The faculty of 
analysis i's, like the other faculties, trained to precise 
and ready action by systematic and reiterated efforts 
expended on concepts that are full and complete. The 



ANALYSIS AND ABSTRACTION. 59 

pupil begins with object lessons, and progresses through 
the processes of analysis found in reading, spelling, and 
elementary arithmetic, until finally he reaches the higher 
examples furnished by the sciences. Each ascending step 
is preparatory to the next higher one. 

Value of the Power. — I need hardly add that the 
power to gather rapidly, and to analyze exhaustively, 
lucid and minute ideas of the things that surround us in 
endless profusion, is one of the essentials of a finished 
education. In fact, a systematic discipline of the intel- 
lectual powers could not be attained without it. 

ABSTRACTION. THE FACULTY THAT WITHDRAWS THE 
PROPERTIES WHICH ANALYSIS REVEALS IN A CON- 
CRETE CONCEPT AND TRANSFORMS THEM INTO AB- 
STRACT CONCEPTS. 

The Objects of Abstraction. — The objects on which the 
faculty of abstraction acts are the concepts of properties 
previously disclosed by the act of analysis. Analyzing 
the concrete concept, orange, the mind gained therefrom 
individual concepts of its parts and properties. Leaving 
the disposal of its parts to another faculty, let us ask 
what operation the mind now performs, spontaneously 
at first, upon the individual concepts of the properties 
found in the concept, orange. They are now, so to 
speak, the single concepts of the properties of this orange 
exclusively. At this point, does not the mind begin 
spontaneously to compare each of these properties of the 
concept, orange, with the same properties found by pre- 
vious analysis in other concrete concepts ? The orange 



60 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

we inspected is yellow. A slight subtle analysis has re- 
vealed, one by one, that other things are yellow; that 
the daisy, the buttercup, and a host of flowers, and 
countless different objects are likewise yellow. Com- 
paring successively the yellow of our concept, orange, 
with the identical yellow discerned in many other con- 
crete concepts, the mind finally reaches a concept of 
yellow apart from the concrete things in which it exists. 
This is a concept of yellow abstracted or withdrawn by 
the mind from the particular things of which it is-an in- 
dividual property, and conceived as an entity apart 
from them all. The idea thus attained through suc- 
cessive acts of comparison is termed an abstract concept, 
and the power the mind exerts in the process of forming 
it is called abstraction. 

Notions of Roundness, how Gained. — Again, analysis 
discloses both by touch and sight, and subsequently by 
inspecting the resulting concept, that the orange is round 
or globular in shape. A comparison of the concept, 
orange, with the concept of other objects of globular 
form, such as marbles, balls, apples, etc., gradually 
enables the child's mind to attain the notion of round- 
ness, apart from any particular instance in which it is 
found. Such is the origin of the multitude of ideas 
which are the concepts of qualities considered as with- 
drawn by the intellect from the concrete things to which 
they belong. The abstract concepts, hardness, smooth- 
ness, length, breadth, thickness, size, shape, figure, dis- 
tance, weight, color are samples of the innumerable host 
of abstract ideas which the average mind contains. 

Adjectives and Abstract Nouns. — These concepts, 



ANALYSIS AND ABSTRACTION. 6 1 

which are the products of the abstracting process, are 
classified in grammar as "abstract nouns/' while the 
qualities they express, as previously discerned by analy- 
sis, in a concrete object, are designated by adjectives. 
Thus : 

Specific Quality. Abstract Quality. 

A good man goodness. 

A sharp knife sharpness. 

A distant city distance. 

A high mountain height. 

A warm climate warmth. 

A soft seat softness. 

Number and Form. — Among the earliest abstract con- 
cepts gained by the child, are those of number and form. 
The first are acquired by spontaneously noticing the 
objects presented to his senses as single things, Next, 
comparing instinctively each of these single things with 
each of the others gives rise to a dim primitive notion 
of the abstract unit or oneness. But the same sponta- 
neous comparison distinguishes these objects as more 
than one, and finally begets an indistinct notion of 
plurality in the abstract. 

Concrete Arithmetic. — Teaching the child to count, to 
add and subtract carefully the balls of a numerical frame, 
is only systematizing the early processes of nature. These 
primary lessons in concrete arithmetic should be varied 
and protracted until the learner has attained facility in 
concrete reckoning and, along with it, the most definite 
notions of abstract numbers. For the science of arith- 
metic deals with abstract numbers, and its materials are, 
therefore, supplied by the faculty of abstraction. 



62 



TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 



tfhe Concrete before the Abstract. — Since we cannot 
abstract the qualities of a concrete concept without first 
discriminating them by analysis, nor analyze the same 
concept without first conceiving it, we are able to see 
clearly that the maxim in teaching which requires that 
the pupil should study "the concrete before the ab- 
stract M is strictly in harmony with the order of nature. 
Every plan for primary training should present, in suc- 
cessive periods, (1) concrete objects ; (2) their qualities ; 
(3) the abstract qualities derived from these. ~ - 

Synopsis. — The unvarying succession we have found 
in the order of the processes of analysis and abstraction, 
will be represented by adding them to the synopsis ar- 
ranged at the close of the section on conception. 



Faculty. 

Sense-Percep- 
tion. 



Memory. 

Conception. 

Analysis. 

Abstraction. 



Object. 
\ External Object. 

Percept. 



\ Unconscious Con- 
( crete Concept. 
\ Conscious Con- 
( crete Concept. 
j Concepts of Prop- 
( erties. • 



Action. 

( Touching. 
< Seeing. 
( Hearing. 

(Acquir- 
ing. 
Retaining. 
Recalling, 
onceiv- 
ing. 
Analyz- 
ing. 
Abstract- 
ing. 



Product. 



Percept. 



( Unconscious Con- 
( crete Concept. 

( Conscious Con- 
( crete Concepts. 
j Concepts of Prop- 
( erties and Parts. 
j Abstract Con- 
i cepts. 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VII. 

Give the preceding operations by which the concept, orange, is 
gained and held before the mind ? Of what is the concept, 
orange, the transcript ? On what does the number of character- 
istics in the concept, orange, depend ? What is the next instinctive 
act which the mind exerts on the concept ? Of what does the 



ANALYSIS AND ABSTRACTION. 63 

act of analysis consist and what are the concepts that result ? Give 
the difference between spontaneous and strenuous analysis. In 
what respect is the analysis of a concept a repetition ? Analysis 
in the object lesson. Analysis, how trained. The importance of 
the faculty of analysis. 

ABSTRACTION. 

What are the objects of abstraction ? What did we gain from 
analyzing the concept, orange ? Describe the process by which 
the simple properties of the orange were transformed into abstract 
concepts. How did we get a notion of roundness ? Show the 
origin of abstract nouns in language. Explain the early acquisi- 
tion of the notions of number and form in child-mind. What 
is the value of early lessons in concrete numbers? Why, in 
teaching, should the concrete precede the abstract ? Give the 
synopsis of the unvarying succession of mind-growth thus far. 



64 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 



Chapter TJXKK. 

IMAGINATION e/*S\*D CLASSIFICATION. 

FACULTIES THAT PROCEED BY SYNTHESIS; THE OKE TO 
BUILD UP KEW COKCEPTS, THE OTHER TO ARRANGE 
CONCEPTS IK CLASSES. IMAGINATION. THE CONCEPT 
BUILDER. 

The Faculty that Constructs. — Imagination is the 
faculty that combines at pleasure the products of con- 
ception, analysis, and abstraction into new concrete 
concepts. The concrete concept derived from the 
senses is a transcript of the external thing it represents. 
The concrete concept which imagination constructs 
does not duplicate any single outside thing. 

Its Materials. — To build this new concept, imagi- 
nation only uses the materials which outside things have 
supplied to the mind. The orange transmits to our 
mind, through the senses, a concept of itself as a con- 
crete whole. This concept of a whole, when analyzed, 
afforded additional concepts of its parts and properties. 
These concepts of individual properties yielded, by com- 
parison, the corresponding abstract concepts. What is 
the sum total of ideas gathered from this single concrete 
object, the orange? 

1. A concept of itself as a whole; including, in general 
its color, its shape, its size, and its contents. 



IMA GIN A TION A ND CLA SSIFICA TION. 65 

2. Individual concepts of its parts; as skin, pulp, film, 
seeds, etc. Also concepts of its individual properties; as 
large, smooth, soft, sweet, juicy, nutritious, etc. 

3. Abstract concepts of these properties gained from 
comparison with their duplicates in other objects; such 
as abstract size, figure, softness, sweetness, weight, etc. 

Constituents of the Image-Concepts. — Now these three 
classes of concepts comprise the materials with which 
imagination builds a new concrete concept which has no 
external reality. The mind, I repeat, holds a concept 
of the real orange as a concrete unit; holds also concepts 
of the abstract properties derived from these. All these 
elements will be found as constituents of the new image- 
concept of an orange, which has no existence except in 
thought. But the new image or concept of an orange, 
which imagination has constructed, will comprise these 
elements in proportions that vary, more or less, from 
those of the real orange. 

Example of the Process in Child Mind. — Suppose, for 
the moment, that we are children just learning to talk, 
to whom the word orange is still a "proper noun/' and 
whose imaginations have the spontaneous activity be- 
longing to childhood. We have seen, handled, and 
tasted the orange under consideration, and learned its 
name. We have consequently gained therefrom a 
concrete concept, spontaneously analyzed its more 
obvious characteristics, and by instinctive comparisons 
derived dim and rudimentary abstract ideas of its more 
noticeable properties. 

When the word orange is pronounced, it may incite in 
our minds two spontaneous operations. The first recalls 



66 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

from memory the concept of the actual orange with its 
parts, properties, etc., etc. ; the second forms an image 
of an orange say ten times as large as the real one. As 
materials for this metamorphosis, we have the concrete 
concept to be used for our sample. We have concepts 
of parts which must be enlarged ten times and adjusted 
in the new image-concept as found in the sense-concept. 
We have the abstract concepts of size, shape, color, 
flavor, etc., with which to magnify and modify the new 
image, and give it congruity of color, shape, symmetry, 
etc. All these we combine into the new product ; and 
the entire operation, from the recalling of the sense- 
concept, to the completion of the new image-concept, 
takes place in a spontaneous flash that renders any 
description of its steps a comparatively clumsy per- 
formance. 

Image-Concepts of the Child and the Man contrasted. — 
The products or images of the child's imagination 
are often crude and extravagant. The more natural 
and attractive images which a cultured imagination 
often constructs are due to the abundant materials 
which experience gathers as the years advance, and 
to a refined judgment of what is beautiful and good 
and true. Multiply the materials of imagination and 
quicken its processes as we may, both the materials 
and the processes, from the earliest to the last, are 
always the same in origin and kind. The former are 
the successive products of conception, analysis, and 
abstraction ; the latter are spontaneities which should 
be disciplined by judicious and reiterated exercises. 

The Concept of the Image-Concept inspected. — Take 



IMAGINATION AND CLASSIFICATION. 6? 

for our example a beautiful painting representing the 
Madonna by Kaphael. The painter had evidently seen 
many individual examples of female beauty in face and 
form. The concrete concepts thus gained had yielded, 
through analysis, notions of the particular characteristics, 
such as expression, contour, feature, and color, which 
were combined in this or that woman in such wise as to 
awaken the emotion of beauty in the beholder. From 
these special concepts of qualities gathered from the 
analysis of many individual specimens, Eaphael had 
formed, by wide comparison, abstract concepts of the 
expression, contour, movement, and symmetry in gen- 
eral, that constitute beauty. These elements the painter, 
taking the concrete concept of a beautiful woman for his 
guide, had united in a beautiful image concept which, 
by the aid of the hand and the eye, he had expressed in 
colors. 

Image-Concepts, how Expressed. — The skilful hand, 
guided by the eye, is mainly the means of giving outward 
reality to image-concepts. In imagination, the order 
of action reverses that of the senses. In the latter, it is 
first the external thing and then the concept that fol- 
lows it. In the former, it is first the concept and then 
the external thing that embodies the concept. The 
hand and the tongue are its instruments of expression. 
Both the fine and the useful arts are the concepts of 
imagination expressed either in language or in material 
forms. If an image-concept, having elements that 
appeal to any of the higher emotions, be clothed in 
metrical language, it becomes a poem; if in colors, a 
painting; if in form, a piece of sculpture; if in sounds, 
a musical composition. 



68 TALKS OAT PSYCHOLOGY. 

Art, then, is the product of man's imagination ; it is 
the image -concept expressed by the pen, the brush, the 
chisel, or the voice, and the mode of expression consti- 
tutes its different branches. 

Imagination ; its Culture. — Since the combining acts 
of the image-making faculty are spontaneous, it cannot 
be educated by immediate efforts of the will in strength- 
ening its actual processes. The means of cultivating 
the imagination are, therefore, comprised (1) in the 
study of the best models found in the arts, and (2) in the 
abundance of clear and definite materials supplied for its 
use by the auxiliary faculties. The close observation of 
material objects, and the exhaustive analysis of their 
characteristics, are, beyond question, the efforts which 
supply imagination with the choicest objects on which 
to act; and the same efforts in studying select specimens 
in the arts are necessary to secure the types after which 
its images should be moulded. It follows inevitably, that 
a liberal training of the senses and of the faculties that 
immediately follow them, is indispensable to the culture 
of the imagination. 

It is the early activity of imagination and the feeble 
observations and analysis preceding it, that produce the 
grotesque images peculiar to childhood. Judicious 
primary courses arranged for the development of the 
early faculties, soon correct this tendency to form mis- 
shapen images, and bring the creative faculty into 
harmony with the beautiful and the true in nature. 
Simple and sensible stories for children ; early drawing ; 
map drawing ; pictures and early composition, may be 
suggested as prominent among the means of accomplish- 
ing this important purpose. 



IMAGINATION AND CLASSIFICATION. 69 



CLASSIFICATION". THE FACULTY THAT ARRANGES 

CONCRETE CONCEPTS INTO CLASSES. 

The Preceding Series yields Single Concepts only. — 

Hitherto we have dealt exclusively with single concepts. 
We have endeavored to follow and explain the successive 
intellectual operations that produce units only. Con- 
ceiving ourselves to be little children, we strove to repeat 
consciously the processes by which we climbed upward 
from the percept of a single thing to its name ; from the 
particular precept to the particular concept it generates ; 
from the particular concept as concrete to the individual 
properties it contained; from the single concept of these 
properties to their abstract counterparts. Finally, out 
of the materials thus gathered, we constructed a new 
"individual idea called the image concept. The series of 
unvarying steps which we endeavored to retrace, proved 
beyond question the soundness of the maxims in mind 
training which affirm the true order of primary study to 
be : " A thing before its name ;" " A whole before its 
parts ;" " The concrete before the abstract;" "Facts 
before fancies." 

But at this point let us note, with a special stress of 
attention, the fact that the orange was a single and sepa- 
rate whole; its name, to us, a proper name; the percept ; 
the concept derived from it; the concepts of its elements ; 
the corresponding abstract concepts and the new image 
concept which followed, were, each and all, single enti- 
ties. Even the abstract concept is the name of a single 
property wherever found. Grasping completely this in- 



70 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

dividuality of the products in the series thus far, we will 
now inspect the processes by which the mind arranges its 
single concepts into kindred groups, each of which is 
named a class-concept. 

Class-Concepts, how formed. — The child recalling once 
more the concrete concept, orange, from memory, holds 
it again under the scrutiny of analysis. This act brings 
into conscious notice its properties and parts. But, mean- 
time, the senses have supplied him with another concept 
whose properties and parts, revealed by analysis,4ie com- 
pares with those of the first concept, and finds that they 
resemble each other throughout. He then unites the 
two concepts together in his mind on the basis of their 
resembling characteristics, and calls them two oranges. 
But he has gained also through the senses, a third con- 
cept, whose elements when analyzed, are manifestly 
similar in form and kind to those of the preceding 
samples. He consequently adds this third concept to 
the other two concepts and calls them three oranges. 
This process of synthesis or addition now goes on with- 
out formal counting, of course, but with a subtile ra- 
pidity that finally gathers all orange-concepts into one 
group or class which he designates by the common name, 
orange. Here we see how impossible it is to form 
classes without the aid of language. 

Characteristics. — It is evident that the links which 
connect together the individual concepts when united to 
form a class-concept, are their common characteristics. 
We recognize each one of these characteristics spontane- 
ously through the abstract notion of it previously ac- 
quired. Thus in the arranging of red apples in a class, 



IMAGINATION AND CLASSIFICATION. 7 1 

we recognize the red of this or that apple, because we 
have a concept of the color, red, in the abstract. 

The Materials for Classifying. — The materials which 
the classifying faculty works up into classes, are identical 
with the materials which imagination works up into new 
image- concepts. The objects on which these two syn- 
thetic faculties operate, are, as we have seen, (1) the con- 
crete concept ;- (2) its characteristics, or properties and 
parts ; (3) the corresponding abstract concepts. 

But each faculty uses these materials in a way peculi- 
arly its own. Imagination employs the concrete concept 
as a sample which the new image must, in general, re- 
semble. It uses the properties and parts of the same 
concrete concept as the elements to be combined in the 
new image-concept. And it modifies these elements in 
their recombination, by assuming the abstract concepts 
as standards. See "Examples of the Process," under 
imagination. 

In the classifying process, on the other hand, the con- 
crete concepts are the objects to be classified. Their re- 
sembling characteristics are the means by which they are 
classed together, and the corresponding abstract concepts 
are the standards by which these characteristics are com- 
pared and found to resemble each other. For instance, 
oranges as simple concepts are to be classified together. 
Their resembling parts and properties are the means of 
effecting this classification, and the abstract notion of 
the properties they comprise are the standards by which 
we recognize these properties and their resemblance to 
each other. 

Actual Classification contains Groups within Groups. — 
Our actual knowledge is composed largely of class-con- 



72 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

cepts so related to each other in a series, that a class 
having a larger number of individuals connected by a less 
number of characteristics, includes another class having 
a less number of individuals connected by a larger num- 
ber of characteristics. For example, in the series : 

Animal. —Creature having life, growth, and feeling; 

Quadruped. — Creature with life, growth, feeling, and 
four feet ; 

Horse. — Life, growth, feeling, four feet, solid hoofs; 

the class Animal contains more individuals and less 
characteristics than the class Quadruped, the class 
Quadruped more individuals and less characteristics than 
the class Horse. 

Bird. — Animal; two-legged; feathered; winged. 

Swimmers. — Two-legged; feathered; winged; web- 
footed. 

Duck. — Two-legged; feathered ; winged ; web-footed; 
large flat bills. 

Wood-duck. — Having the characteristics of the duck 
and those of its own species besides. 

In this last series, the class Bird includes the im- 
mense number of animals which are connected by three 
characteristics : namely, two legs,, feathers, and wings. 
The class Bird includes the class Swimmers, in which 
the individuals are far less in number; but the character- 
istics on which they are classified comprise not only 
those of the class Bird, but the added one of web-footed. 

The class Duck contains only a fraction of the class 
Swimmers, but the characteristics on which the class is 
founded embrace not only those of the class Duck, but 
also the added one of large flat bill. 



IMA GIN A TION A ND CLA SSIFICA TION. 73 

The class, Wood-duck, with a greatly diminished num- 
ber, increases the characteristics of the class Duck, under 
which it is included, by adding those of its own species. 
Thus the lowest class, Wood-duck, has the minimum 
number of individuals and the maximum number of 
characteristics; while the highest class, Bird, has the 
maximum number of individuals and the minimum 
number of characteristics. 

Definition: What is It? — Comprehending fully the 
important fact that in the series of groups within groups, 
which classification arranges, the number of individuals, 
and the number of characteristics which connect them, 
increase or decrease in an inverse ratio, we shall easily 
learn the nature of a definition. A definition simply 
names the higher class to which the thing defined be- 
longs, and then names the characteristics which place 
it in the class next below. 

For example, a quadruped is an animal having four 
feet. 

This definition manifestly assigns the quadruped to 
the class, Animal, and then specifies the characteristic, 
four feet, which places it in the class, quadruped, next 
below. 

A horse is a quadruped having solid hoofs. 

A square is* a plane figure having four equal sides 
and four right angles. 

An adjective is a word used to limit a noun. 

These are specimens of the defining process, wherein 
the characteristics of the two adjacent classes, higher and 
lower, may be easily pointed out. It is evident that class- 
concepts are the only ideas that can be strictly defined, 



74 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

and that the accuracy of a definition depends on the 
correctness of the classification on which it is based. 
Accurate definitions are of great value to the teacher 
especially as they serve to convey distinct and definite 
ideas. Dim and confused class-concepts, otherwise 
called half -knowledge, cannot be defined. 

Proper and Common Nouns: Adjectives and Abstract 
Nouns. — If we reflect on the character of the ideas which 
our minds have gathered and memory stored, we shall 
find that by far the larger portion is made up~bf ab- 
stract concepts and class-concepts. As to the first, 
every property which our concrete ideas contain, is 
represented also in thought as an abstract concept. Or, 
if we express the same fact in the language of grammar, 
it will warrant the following statement; namely, that 
every adjective whose meaning we know, has supplied 
us with an abstract noun whose meaning is equally clear 
to our comprehension. A few simple examples may 
serve as illustrations. 



djective. 


Abstract Noun. 


Adjective. 


Abstract Noun. 


Good. 


Goodness. 


Honest. 


Honesty. 


Bright. 


Brightness. 


Courageous. 


Courage. 


Brief. 


Brevity. 


Lazy. 


Laziness. 



Early Classification turns Proper Names into Class- 
Names. — It is likewise manifest that each of the entire 
host of concrete concepts which language and our senses 
have gathered, lies in a class to which we have already 
connected it in an earlier mental operation. 

For instance, boy, girl, cow, horse, dog, and a count- 
less list of like words, designate each a complete class 
to which it belongs. But in our earliest mental experi- 



IMAGINATION AND CLASSIFICATION. 7$ 

ence, boy, girl, cow, etc. were, to our limited knowledge, 
proper nouns which served as the names of concrete 
objects perceived singly. Then followed, slowly and in 
its regular order, the acts by which each of the words 
boy, girl, cow, horse, etc. became the name of a class, 
and so a common noun. Now, when we desire to point 
out any particular individual from the others of its 
class, we employ one of two expedients. We pronounce 
its proper name as Tom, Nellie, Daisy, Dick. Or, if 
the individual to be designated lacks a proper name, we 
discriminate it from its class by means of verbal ad- 
juncts, as "The horse that jumped over the gate." 
Here the article, the, limits its noun to some one horse; 
and the adjunctive sentence, "That leaped over the 
gate," determines definitely which this one horse is. 

The Classifying Faculty: How Educated. — In closing 
this chapters let us notice briefly that the classifying 
faculty is educated by repeated efforts in classifying the 
particular objects prepared by the preceding operations. 
Such efforts must be numerous, protracted, and effective. 
But effective or complete classifications can be reached 
only by the completeness of the materials to be classified. 
These materials are the concepts provided by previous 
observation, analysis, and abstraction. 

We could not classify the orange until we had an 
exhaustive knowledge of its particular properties. We 
could not gain an exhaustive knowledge of its particular 
properties unless we had a knowledge of such properties 
in general, that is from abstraction. Nor could we 
analyze the orange completely, to gain a knowledge of 
its particular properties, unless we had a complete con- 



7& TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

cept of the orange itself. Finally, we could, not have 
the complete concept of the orange itself, except through 
a strenuous act of perception. The faculties of percep- 
tion, conception, analysis, and abstraction must there- 
fore be trained to do this work thoroughly, in order to 
supply perfect materials for the process of classification. 
With perfect materials thus prepared, the power of 
classification is educated by its efforts in classifying 
them. 

Sciences that Supply Objects for Classification — The 
study of the sciences which present and investigate the 
properties of single things, not only trains the antece- 
dent faculties, but furnishes valid materials for the pro- 
cess of classification. The classifications of arithmetic 
and of mathematics in general, are absolutely perfect. 
Botany and zoology and grammar are also among the 
studies that furnish valid materials for the classifying 
faculty. 

Faculty. Object. Action. Product* 

j Concrete Concepts. ) 

Imagination.-^ Concepts of its elements. V Imagining. Image-Concepts. 

( Abstract Concepts. ) 

Classification. Same as above. Classifying. Class-Concepts. 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VIII. 

Define imagination. What is the sum total of ideas gained from 
the concrete concept, orange ? What are the constituents of the 
new image of an orange which imagination builds ? Give an ex- 
ample of the process of combining the concepts of a real orange 
into an imaginary one. What is the difference between the image- 
concepts of a child and those of an educated man ? How did 
Raphael gather the elements which he combined in the image con- 



IMAGINATION AND CLASSIFICATION. 77 

cept represented by the painting called the Madonna ? Explain 
how difference in the mode of expression constitutes the differ- 
ent branches of art. Give the two principal means of cultivating 
imagination. How is the tendency of childhood to form gro- 
tesque images corrected ? 

CLASSIFICATION. 

What is the condition of the ideas gained before the process of 
classification begins ? What are the successive steps of the child's 
mind from the percept of a single thing to the first act of classi- 
fying it ? What maxims in primary teaching are founded on these 
successive steps ? What is the entire process by which the child 
makes his first classifications ? What is the value of a common 
noun in classification ? What are the links that bind individual 
concepts together ? What is the use of the abstract concept in the 
act of classifying ? What are the three kinds of concepts that con- 
stitute the materials on which both imagination arid classification 
act ? In what manner does each faculty employ these materials 
in forming the image-concept, on the one hand, and the class- con- 
cept on the other ? In what manner are our class-concepts ar- 
ranged by the mind so as to include groups within groups ? Which 
contains more individuals, the class Animal, or the class Horse? 
Which has the greater and which the less number of characteris- 
tics ? What is the relative number of individuals and characteris- 
tics in the classes included under the class Bird ? What is the 
character of a definition and what its value ? Of what concepts 
is our knowledge mainly composed ? What other knowledge 
does our perception of the meaning of an adjective imply ? How 
do the earliest acts of classifying change proper nouns into the 
names of classes ? By what two expedients do we designate the 
individuals of a class ? 

By what two means is the classifying faculty educated ? How 
are the materials for classification gathered ? What sciences sup- 
ply the objects to be classified ? 



78 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 



(ftijapter XX. 

JUDGMENT AND REASONING; THE THINKING 
FACULTIES. - 

THE FIRST CONNECTING TWO CLASS-CONCEPTS TOGETHER: 

THE SECOND COMPARING THEM WITH EACH OTHER IN 

TRIPLETS. 

What is Judgment? — The last faculty, whose opera- 
tions we considered, gave us the class-concept as its 
product. This class-concept contains a host of single 
concrete concepts connected together by their resem- 
bling characteristics. We found that our knowledge 
consists largely of these class-concepts, each of which is 
designated by a common noun. Assuming now that we 
comprehend fully the class-concept both in name and 
nature, the question next in order is, what will the mind 
do with it? 

Let us find the answer to this question by inspecting 
our own mental operations. If we scrutinize closely our 
processes of thinking, we shall find that they consist 
almost wholly in affirming that one class-concept is, or 
is not, contained|in another class-concept. Of course, 



JUDGMENT AND REASONING. 



79 



the single concept containing, is a wider class than the 
concept contained. Thus when I say, 

The orange is a delicious fruit, 

I simply affirm that the narrower class, orange, is 
contained in the wider class, delicious fruit. For the 
class, delicious fruit, comprises several kinds of fruit 
besides the orange; for instance, the peach, the plum, 
etc. Now this mental act of comparing two class-con- 
cepts and affirming that one is, or is not, contained in 
the other, is called a Judgment. 

A judgment, then, is a mental affirmation that, of two 
concepts compared together, one is contained in, or ex- 
cluded from, the other. A positive judgment is one 
which affirms that of two concepts compared, one is 
contained in the other. This may be illustrated by the 
use of circles, as follows : 




A negative judgment affirms that, of two concepts 
compared, one is not contained in the other. 

"The orange was not ripe," i.e., not in the class ripe 
fruit. 

Frequently, in a judgment, the concept contained or 
excluded is concrete and individual, while the concept 



80 TALKS ON PS YCHOLOG V. 

containing or excluding it, represents, of course, a 
class. 

Brigham Young was a Mormon. 

Thomas was not guilty, i.e., not among those that are 
guilty. 




We think in Judgments. — We are now prepared to 
learn, with precision, the nature of the mental act 
called thinking. Thinking, as we have already seen, is 
the action of any intellectual faculty upon its object. 
Earnest thinking is the action of any faculty strenu- 
ously impelled by the will. Desultory thinking is the 
spontaneous action of any faculty incited simply by the 
presence of its object. 

But thinking, whether earnest or desultory, always 
takes the form of a judgment or judgments. In other 
words, we think in judgments and the simplest thought 
is a single judgment, while an extended thought or act 
of thinking is a series of 'judgments. 

Example : The lesson was long, the recitation was a 
failure, and the class was discouraged. 

Here the thought is composed of three simple judg- 
ments whose connection may be shown by circles. Ee- 



JUDGMENT AND REASONING. 



81 



membering that the adjective, which often completes a 
simple judgment, represents a class, we have : 



LONG 



THINKING. 



( LESSON j H (RECITATION] 



CLASS 



The Proposition. — So far, we have considered judg- 
ment as a mental act wholly apart from the language in 
which it is expressed. A judgment or simple thought 
consciously affirms that one concept contains or ex- 
cludes another; but this affirmation may or may not be 
expressed in words. When it is so expressed, however, 
it invariably takes the form of a Proposition. 

A proposition is a sentence which consists, as we are 
well aware, of a subject, a predicate, and a copula. The 
subject is that of which something is affirmed ; the pre- 
dicate is the something which is affirmed of the subject; 
the copula is the affirming word which connects the 
subject and predicate. In the example, 

The orange is nutritious, 

orange is that of which something is affirmed, and it is, 
consequently, the subject ; nutritious is the something 
affirmed of the orange ; it is, therefore, the predicate ; 
while is, the affirming word that connects subject and 
predicate together, is the copula. In grammatical an- 



82 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

alysis, all complex or compound sentences may be 
divided into simple propositions, and the adjuncts that 
limit their subjects, copulas, or predicates. 

The Power to Think ; How Disciplined. — Judgment or 
thinking is the mode in which any faculty acts strenu- 
ously upon its object. The power to think will, there- 
fore,, be rendered facile and rapid by the same severe 
exercises that train every faculty to its, highest efficiency. 
Every systematic branch of study educates the judgment 
just in proportion as it educates the facultie&jvhich it 
stimulates to effort. 

But the necessity for rapid and exact thinking increases 
as intellectual effort advances in the series which we 
have traced. It is in scrutinizing the relation of class- 
concepts to each other and in the processes of reasoning, 
that the mind requires great facility and accuracy in the 
power of thought. The processes of arithmetic, gram- 
mar, algebra, and geometry, whether elementary or ad- 
vanced, call the reasoning faculty into sustained and 
vigorus exercise. 

DEDUCTIVE SEASONING. — DEDUCING CONCEPTS 

Materials for the Reasoning Process. — The last faculty, 
that of judgment, connects two concepts together, one 
within the other, and affirms that they are a unit. This 
unit, which is the product of judgment, consequently 
always contains a narrower concept within a wider one. 
When judgment affirms that 

" The orange is a nuturious fruit," 
it virtually combines the two, (the first within the sec- 
ond), and determines that they are one. Nutritious 



JUDGMENT AND REASONING. 83 

fruit, the predicate, is now a class-concept which com- 
prises the class, orange, as one of its components. As 
affirmed to contain the class, orange, the class-concept, 
delicious fruit, is the product of an affirmation or predi- 
cation of judgment. It may, for this reason, be called 
predicated class concept. In the judgment, 
11 The sermon was a fine effort," 

the concept, "fine effort," is a predicated concept. 
Now the predicated concept is the object on which the 
reasoning faculty expends its efforts and evolves there- 
from a concept of its own. 

The Reasoning Process. — Present the average boy 
with an orange, and he shows at once by infallible tokens, 
that he knows it is good to eat. He has not experimented 
on this particular orange either by smell or taste, and 
yet he displays no lack of confidence in its palatableness. 
How does the boy know that this particular orange is 
"good to eat "f The answer is not far to seek. The boy 
has previously tested other or angesby the sense of taste, 
and reached the judgment that since all oranges are 
"good to eat," the untried orange just now accepted 
must be "good to eat " also. In other words, the class 
"things good to eat" contains the class, orange. The 
class, orange, contains the individual orange ; conse- 
quently, the class, "things good to eat," must contain 
the individual orange. If we clothe this spontaneous 
flash of juvenile reasoning in formal words, it will read 
as follows: 

Oranges are " good to eat ;" 
This is an " orange ;" 
Therefore, " it is good to eat." 



84 



TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 




Inspecting this elaborate statement, we find that it is 
composed of three judgments which affirm relations be- 
tween the three concepts, namely: the class, tilings good 
to eat; the class, orange; and the in- 
vidual orange. These relations may 
be clearly shown in the arrangement 
of the following circles; and the gist 
of the statement is, that the class, 
" good to eat," includes the class, " all 
oranges ;" that the class _" all or- 
anges " includes the aforesaid individual " orange ;" 
therefore the class "go©d to eat " must include the in- 
dividual orange also. 

The Syllogism. — The methodical arrangement of the 
three propositions by which we deduce, from a wider 
class, a conclusion respecting the narrower class or the 
individual contained under it, is 
called the Syllogism. 
All fruit is perishable; 
The orange is a fruit; 
The orange is perishable. 
The first proposition, which affirms 
that the class, fruit, is contained m 
the class, perishable, is the Major premise. The second, 
which affirms that the class, orange, is contained in the 
class, fruit, is the Minor premise. The third, which 
affirms that, therefore, the class, orange, must be con- 
tained in the class, perishable, is the conclusion. 

Point out the major premise, the minor premise, and 
the conclusion, in the following syllogism : 
The horse is a quadruped; 




JUDGMENT AND REASONING. 85 

Dick is a horse; 

Therefore, Dick is a quadruped. 

Next, show in circles the three concepts containing 
and contained. 

Major Premise often Suppressed. — In ordinary lan- 
guage, the major premise, being understood both by 
the speaker and the hearer, is usually suppressed. In 
the sentence, "Thomas showed fear," for example, we 
say shoived is a verb because it affirms something of the 
subject, Thomas. Supplying the ma- 
jor premise and arranging the three 
propositions in the form of a syllogism, 
we have: 

An affirming word is a verb; 

Showed is an affirming word; 

Therefore, showed is a verb. 

Inductive Reasoning examines, one by one, the indi- 
viduals of a class, and finding that a particular property 
belongs to each,, affirms that such property is a charac- 
teristic of the entire class. Take, for instance, the gen- 
eral proposition, 

" The orange is a healthful food," 

what, precisely, is the ground of our confidence in this 
wide statement ? It signifies that every complete indi- 
vidual of the class, orange, is conducive to health, when 
eaten. My opinion of the veracity of the proposition 
must be based either on the testimony of others, or on a 
process of induction carried on and completed by my- 
self. I have eaten, as the years passed, a large number 
of oranges, and found each one to answer the purpose of 




86 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

good food. Consequently, I am ready to declare that 
the orange, as a class, is healthful. 

Imperfect Induction. — Imperfect induction is the care- 
less noticing of a characteristic in a scanty number of 
individuals of a class, and rushing to the conclusion that 
such characteristic belongs to the entire class. From 
having observed one or two imprudent actions, to call 
their author a fool; or, from having suffered through the 
dishonesty of a few foreigners, to assert that thej^belong 
to agnation of sharpers, are examples of a hasty induction; 
which, in general, is the source of innumerable errors. 

Culture of the Reasoning Faculty.— Since the opera- 
tion of reasoning is the highest intellectual effort of 
which we are capable, the faculty of reasoning will be 
most effectually disciplined by the study and practice of 
processes that are rigidly logical and correct. All 
branches of study that demand a severe and systematic 
exercise of the reasoning power, contribute to its culture. 
The mathematics whose processes are examples of perfect 
logic; grammar, history, and the natural sciences gener- 
ally; may be mentioned as among the studies tfhich in- 
cite to its highest activity, the faculty by whose efforts 
human thought reaches its culmination. 

PRINCIPLES IN THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION DERIVED 
FROM THE INVARIABLE ORDER IN MIND-GROWTH. 

1. There is an invariable sequence in the early action 
of the intellectual faculties. 

2. In the period of primal unfolding, each faculty 
holds a fixed place in a series wherein it receives the ob- 
jects on which it acts, from the faculty preceding it, and 



JUDGMENT AND REASONING. 



87 



furnishes the objects to be acted on by the faculty fol- 
lowing table. 

TABULAR VIEW OF THE SUCCESSION OF POWERS, OB- 
JECTS, ACTS, AND PRODUCTS IN MIND-GROWTH. 



Faculty. 

1. Sense-Percep- 
tion. 



2. Memory. 

3. Conception. 

4. Analysis. 

5. Abstraction. 

6. Imagination. 

7. Classification. 

8. Judgment. ,' 

9. Reasoning. 



Object. Action. 

) Touching. 
External Object. > Seeing. 
) Hearing. 

] Receiv- 
ing. 
Retain- 
ing. 
Recalling. 
Repre- 
senting. 

Analyz- 
ing. 

Abstract- 
ing. 

Imagin- 
ing. 

Classify- 
ing. 

Affirm- 
ing. 

Reason- 
ing. 



Product. 



Unconscious Con- 
crete Concept. 

Conscious Con- 
crete Concept, f 

Simple Concepts 
of Properties. 

Concrete Con- ' 
cepts. 

Simple Concepts 

Abstract Con- 
cepts. 

Same as above. 



Class-Concepts. 

Predicated Con- 
cepts of Class > 
Characteristics. ) 



Percept. 



Unconscious Con- 
crete Concept. 

Conscious Con- 
crete Concepts. 
i| Simple Concepts 
of Properties and 
Parts. 

Abstract Con- 
cepts. 

Concrete Image- 
Concepts. 



Class-Concepts. 

Predicated Con- 
cepts of Class 
Characteristics. 

Inferred Concepts. 



3. The initial action of each faculty is a spontaneity 
elicited by the presence of its object, and followed, at 
varying intervals, by an effort of the will called an act of 
voluntary attention. 

4. The complete action of any faculty of the series, 
supplies perfect objects for the faculty that follows it, 
and so tends to produce the full and harmonious action 
of the subsequent faculties in the series. 



88 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

5. No faculty can act except on its own peculiar ob- 
jects. 

6. In training any faculty to early activity,, we should 
present to it only those objects which are simple, attrac- 
tive, distinct, and coi. £ lete. 

7. Vigorous and complete action educates and dis- 
ciplines the faculty that puts it forth, and desultory and 
incomplete action weakens and retards its growth* 

8. The order of mind-growth, as shown in the pre- 
ceding chapters, requires that, in the corresponding 
order of studies, the thing should precede its name; 
the simple be studied before the complex; the concrete 
before the abstract; the individual before the class to 
which it belongs. 

9. The series or course of studies must accord with 
the series of unfolding faculties, and so contribute 
most effectively to their discipline. 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER IX. 

What does a class-concept contain ? What does thinking con- 
sist of ? What is a judgment ? Show by drawing circles the 
difference between a positive and a negative judgment. Show by 
successive connected circles the steps in connected thinking. 
What is the difference between a judgment and a proposition ? 
Of what three parts does a proposition consist? Define each. 
How is judgment or thinking educated 2 What studies discipline 
the judgment most effectively 1 

REASONING. 

Show in the judgment, "the oraoge is a delicious fruit/' that 
one class-concept is affirmed to contain another. What is the 



JUDGMENT AND REASONING. 89 

object on which the reasoning faculty acts ? Explain the pro- 
cess of reasoning by the boy, on the orange, and give the result- 
ing syllogism in circles. Construct and include in circles, the 
syllogism proving that all fruit is perishable. Define the major 
premise, the minor premise, and the conclusion in the syllogism, 
and commit them to circles. Show and illustrate by circles how 
in common reasoning the major premise is generally suppressed. 
What is inductive reasoning? What is imperfect or hasty in- 
induction ? By what means is the reasoning faculty educated ? 

Write out from memory the complete table showing the suc- 
cessive steps in mind growth. Repeat the nine principles in the 
science of education. 



PART II. 



EDUCATION AND THE MEANS OF ATTAINING IT. 

Education: What is it? — Education, as a process, con- 
sists in developing harmoniously and training to their 
highest efficiency, all our physical and mental powers. 
Education, as a product or result, is the actual attain- 
ment, by the individual, of faculties that are trained to 
act with force and facility, upon their respective objects, 
and thus to attain the purposes of a complete life. It is, 
in fact, the perfect balance of highly disciplined powers 
and capacities wherein the higher predominate and guide 
the action and impulses of the lower, to the noblest 
results of human effort. 

But education so defined, is ideal and, in the present 
condition of man, is unattainable on this earth. If any 
youth, now living, were capable of receiving this ideal 
development and his environment could be perfectly ad- 
justed to the production of it, then we should have an 
instance of the philosopher, poet, divine, artist, states- 
man, ruler, orator, scientist, etc., all wrought to perfec- 
tion by culture, and united in a single complete and sym- 
metrical character. But the defective germs of powers. 



92 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

and the propensities which the infant inherits, can not 
serve as the basis of such a development; nor is any en- 
vironment on this planet, in school or out, susceptible 
of the adjustment necessary to its attainment. Never- 
theless, the complete and symmetrical education defined 
is the ideal towards which we strive to advance so far as 
our defective powers and the imperfect surroundings will 
admit. 

Physical Education. — Physical Education, as a process, 
is the systematic training by judicious exercise and 
nutrition of all the bodily powers, so that each organ, 
whether voluntary or automatic, shall perform its func- 
tions in such a manner as to secure development, sound- 
ness, and vigor to the whole body. Physical Education, 
as a result, is the possession of a body that is strong, 
vigorous, active, and enduring throughout, and whose 
appetites are under the uniform control of the will. A 
perfect physical education is, however, in this world, 
beyond our reach ; and wee an only strive to approach it 
by an unvarying conformity to the laws of health and 
physical development. The study of physiology, dietet- 
ics, and the use of suitable food, clothing, and shelter, 
with the proper alternation of labor and rest, contribute 
to this end. 

Mental Education is divided into two branches, namely, 
Intellectual Education and Moral Education; which cor- 
respond to two classes of mental phenomena. 

Intellectual Education, as a system, is the develop- 
ment and discipline of every intellectual faculty by its 
own persistent and strenuous, voluntary efforts expended 
upon its peculiar objects. The eye is educated by efforts 



EDUCATION AND ITS ATTAINMENT. 93 

of complete seeing ; the ear by the efforts 01 distinct 
hearing; the classifying faculty by strenuous acts of 
perfect classification. 

Intellectual Education, as an attainment, is an intellect 
so trained by the severe and protracted exercise of all its 
powers, that they may be concentrated at will on one or 
more objects, by an effort in which each faculty performs 
its peculiar function in an instantaneous succession. 
Thus the educated scientist, finding a new specimen of a 
familiar class, perceives, analyses, classifies, judges of, 
and reasons upon it, detecting its relations to other 
classes and inferring its invisible qualities, all in a single 
instant. The knowledge he gains by a momentary effort, 
which concentrates every intellectual act from perceiving 
to reasoning inclusive, on an object under his eye, would 
fill many printed pages. An intellect uneducated, could 
not grasp such knowledge except by painful and pro- 
tracted exertions. Even when acquired, it would take 
the form of verbal memories rather than the clear-cut 
concepts of judgment and reasoning. 

Moral Education consists in the restraining and re- 
ducing of our appetites, propensities, and passions to 
habitual control of a will whose decisions and impulses 
are brought into conformity with the principles of 
justice, truth, goodness, sincerity, and right. It also 
includes the developing of a conscience which shall be 
void of offence towards God and man. In a man so 
educated, the higher sentiments prevail, the selfish feel- 
ings are habitually subordinated to a will guided uni- 
formly by the dictates of duty, and by a conscience sensi- 
tive to the slighest infraction of truth, and justice, and 



94 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

right. Alas ! how few the concrete examples of a sym- 
metrical moral education. But the earnest teacher must 
struggle on, both in his conduct and in his teaching, 
towards this perfect standard, encouraged by the fact 
that though he never can absolutely reach it, every step 
upward is a noble triumph. 

Order of the Processes of Education. — The training of 
the mental and the physical powers naturally progress to- 
gether by alternate exercises appropriate to each. But 
in mental education, the progress of intellectual -training 
precedes moral training by a single step. The order of 
mental phenomena is (1) knowing, (2) feeling, (3) will- 
ing. I must know a moral precept before I can feel its 
influence ; I must feel its influence before I can will to 
obey it. Thus truth and duty taught the child by par- 
ticular cases reenf orced by personal example of the parent 
and the teacher, are effective helps in early moral educa- 
tion. Since the lower feelings are restrained, the higher 
emotions developed, and the will directed, by appropriate 
knowledge, it is of vital moment that the same ideas 
which discipline the intellect, should be of such a char- 
acter as to chasten the sensibilities and improve the 
heart. 

Contrast of an Ignorant and an Educated Person. — An 
ignorant man is one whose intellectual faculties are un- 
trained and obtuse. His senses perceive things only in 
their more obvious properties and relations; consequently, 
the contents of memory are dim and scanty; the concepts 
recalled therefrom, vague and sterile ; a desultory ana- 
lysis reveals only the limited properties gathered by the 
senses ; the abstract concepts are correspondingly feeble 



EDUCATION AND ITS ATTAINMENT. 95 

and few ; the imagination works up its crude materials 
into images that are distorted by prejudice ; the classi- 
fying faculty forms, spontaneously, defective classes of 
things imperfectly analyzed ; the affirmations of judg- 
ment on the relations of ill-formed classes, are feeble and 
fallible; and, finally, the efforts of reasoning by the com- 
parison of such judgments, result in mere conjectures 
that elicit truth only by accident. The knowledge which 
the possessor of such an intellect has gathered and holds 
in memory, is composed of narrow ideas that are con- 
fused and ill-formed, ideas that do not represent any but 
the simplest realities around him. In truth, his realities 
are in general either suspicions or the bare notions of 
individual things that make no appeal to his imagination. 

1 ' A primrose by the river's brim 
A yellow primrose is to him 
And it is nothing more." 

The educated mind, on the other hand, is one whose 
perceptive power is rapid, accurate, and exhaustive; 
whose memory gathers, holds, and restores all things 
worthy of remembrance that the hand has touched, the 
eye seen, or the ear heard ; whose conceptive faculty dis- 
plays, vividly and in distinct outlines, each of the many 
concepts which memory supplies ; whose analytic scru- 
tiny, revealing every element his concepts contain, and 
the abstraction that follows with its wide ideas, minister 
abundantly to an imagination that uniformly produces 
images worthy of approval by a cultured taste. With 
copious and well digested materials for classification, the 
class-ideas of the educated mind are wide, accurate, and 



96 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

complete, thus forming a basis for the infallible judg- 
ment and reasoning that follow and contribute con- 
stantly to the stores of minute and varied knowledge 
already gathered. Perhaps the one fundamental dis- 
tinction between the cultured and the ignorant, is that 
the faculties and feelings of the latter are under the con- 
trol of spontaneous impulse, while the former exercises a 
disciplined will that holds every passion under whole- 
some restraint and impels every faculty to effective 
effort. — 

The Means of Education. — The means of education in- 
clude all the objects and influences around us that elicit 
systematic and strenuous efforts of the will, whether in 
habitual self-denial, as in moral education; or in im- 
pelling each faculty to the scrutiny of its object, as in 
intellectual education. 

The Environment. — Our environment comprises the 
things and events that permanently surround us and 
come within the range of our personal observation and 
experience. It embraces the innumerable objects that 
appeal to the senses and demand attention. It includes 
all the products of nature and art within our reach ; all 
the branches of study we are led to pursue ; all the in- 
fluences, parental, social, moral, religious, that con- 
tinually affect us. In short, the environment is the sum 
total of the forces, material or spiritual, that constantly 
play upon us and incite our faculties to spontaneous 
activity. 

Stimulation. — But of the vast multitude of objects in 
his environment, that move the senses of the child, by 
far the larger portion excite only feeble and flitting 



EDUCATION AND ITS ATTAINMENT. 97 

spontaneities, while a comparatively limited number 
stimulate curiosity and awaken those more intense and 
lasting spontaneities that induce the repeated and vigor- 
ous efforts resulting finally in discipline. Such objects, 
arranged in an order wherein the simple gradually ap- 
proaches the complex, the concrete reaches the abstract 
by successive steps, the particular becomes the general 
through regular progression, constitute the means of 
intellectual education as guided by the teacher, especi- 
ally in the early training of the child. 

Selection and Arrangement of Objects, the Teacher's 
Province. — It is the duty of the teacher to select and 
arrange the proper objects for study, the rudiments of 
science and art which fulfill the conditions that make 
them effective as a means of early discipline. Even if 
this work be done by one in higher authority, the actual 
teacher of the child should know minutely and fully the 
reasons both for the materials chosen and for their har- 
monious adjustment to the successive operations which 
constitute the processes of mind-growth. For no in- 
structor is capable of conducting skilfully the minor 
steps in mind-training, who does not comprehend com- 
pletely the principles on which they rest. 

Reiteration of Efforts Essential to Education. — It is 
difficult to overstate the pressing necessity, especially in 
primary training, of repeating every disciplinary effort 
until it becomes rapid and facile. Any single act of at- 
tention, even though it be persistent and successful, 
does not perceptibly invigorate the faculty that puts it 
forth. It is only by reiterating, with systematic pre- 
cision, the educating processes from day to day and 



f 



98 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

month to month, that the faculties they exercise attain 
infallible accuracy and the swiftness that outstrips con- 
scious effort. 

Scan the ideas over which your minds have gained the 
most perfect mastery, — ideas that, w T hen recalled, dupli- 
cate, with greatest exactness, their outside original. Are 
they not the concepts of faces that the eye has dwelt upon 
most frequently ? of scenes that are familarized by daily 
and hourly experience? of voices to which you have 
listened from infancy? It is by adopting and syste- 
matizing nature's method of reiteration, that we reach 
expertness in any intellectual operation, whether simple 
or complex. The facility of the numerical additions we 
make, our complete mastery of the multiplication table, 
and especially the ease with which, in reading, we in- 
stantly catch and pronounce the complex words of a 
sentence, are all the products of countless reiterations. 

Two Conditions in Reiteration. — Now in order to give 
the practice of reiteration its utmost effectiveness, the 
teacher must comply with two conditions : 

(1) He must see to it that, in the first instance, the 
pupil goes through with perfect accuracy the steps of 
the process to be repeated. 

(2) He must require that the pupil make exact re- 
petitions of this process so frequently as to hasten the 
attainment of automatic swiftness therein. 

When so applied as to fulfill the above conditions, re- 
iteration reaches, in the child's mind, results that are 
well-nigh marvelous. The writer has known classes of 
boys and girls from five to six years old, to attain, in 
numerical processes, a degree of accuracy and expert- 



EDUCATION AND ITS ATTAINMENT. 99 

ness which are equalled by few adults. Is it not worth 
while then to ponder on the question, whether this 
principle which nature inaugurates, could not be made 
far more fruitful of valuable results, in early mind-train- 
ing than heretofore ? Especially in primary education, 
are not the clearness and completeness of the ideas 
gained, of far greater moment than their mere number ? 

Imitation. — In the earliest stages of mind-growth, 
nothing is more noticeable than the power of imitation. 
Not having reached as yet a knowledge of the nature of 
things, the child simply imitates the actions and move- 
ments of those around him. In many children, the 
tendency to copy the voices and gestures of others, 
amounts to mimicry. Now this instinctive imitation of 
whatever the child sees and hears, is nature's method of 
primary instruction. It is the initial process in the de- 
velopment of mind. By imitation, the little one utters 
its first small words ; makes its first modulations of 
voice ; sings its first simple song ; puts forth its first 
endeavor at counting, etc. 

The primary teacher systematizes this natural method, 
and makes it the means by which the pupil learns his 
early formal lessons in drawing, singing, reading, writ- 
ing, and spelling. But in proportion as the under- 
standing of the child is developed, imitation, as a factor 
in mind-growth, is superseded by mental efforts that are 
prompted by a knowledge of "the reasons of things." 
The point to be urged here is that the teacher should so 
combine the processes of imitation and reiteration that 
the pupil may thoroughly conquer every step in the 
lessons he learns, before he proceeds to the next one. 



IOO TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 



adapter XX* 

TRAINING OF THE SENSES. 

General Principles. — Thus equipped with a knowledge 
of the means and ends of education in general, let us 
now inquire, with more minuteness, into the means we 
have of training each intellectual faculty, until, from 
being wholly spontaneous in the outset, it attains the 
accuracy and facility of effective action. Let us recall 
to mind just here the maxims in education which are to 
be our guides, namely: (1) that every faculty must be 
trained in the order of its growth; (2) that every faculty 
must be trained by persistent and repeated exercise upon 
its own peculiar objects ; (3) that such objects must be 
selected as will stimulate attention and promote growth; 
(4) that the objects selected must be so arranged as to 
advance, by degrees, from the simple to the complex, 
from concrete to abstract, from the individual to the 
class in which it belongs. 

The Animal Senses. — The animal senses, taste, smell, 
and sensitive touch, do not, as we have already said, 
require any formal training by the helps of the teacher. 
Since they are spontaneous feelings, rather than con- 
scious acts of mind, they cannot be disciplined by exer- 
cise. As bodily states, their proper use in fulfilling the 
purposes they subserve belongs to the department of 



TRAINING OF THE SENSES. IOI 

physical education. Having no need of the training 
which the active faculties require, they should be kept 
under judicious guidance and wholesome restraint at 
home. 

Perceptive Touch; Trained by What Means? — From 
early infancy, the child shows a constant desire to grasp 
and handle the things within its reach. Nature prompts 
this first bringing of the tiny fingers into contact with 
resisting solids. 

While continuing these lessons which nature has 
begun, the teacher's purpose is to systematize and im- 
prove them. This he is enabled to do, by selecting from 
her unlimited stores such solids as will be most definite 
and attractive. Solids of convenient size, and regular 
in form, will answer the purpose in hand. All the va- 
rieties of geometrical figures, represented by wooden 
blocks, are available for these early lessons. Of course, 
the period of child-life occupied by such elementary 
exercises is antecedent to the more formal lessons given 
in the primary school. It is in fact the play-period 
wherein the spontaneities of the little one are elicited 
by the presence of simple regular forms, and bright 
colors, and melodious sounds. Nature, equipped by 
man's help with novelties most fascinating to the dawn- 
ing intellect, is the actual teacher. It is nature alone 
that prompts^the actions that respond to the solicitations 
of suitable objects. 

In this interval, which, according to Froebel, extends 
from three to six years of age, no attempt is made to stim- 
ulate or direct any formal efforts of the will. The sole 
purpose of the play-school or Kindergarten is to educate 



102 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

and develop by exercise the instinctive spontaneities that, 
in early childhood, precede and finally call forth per- 
sistent efforts of attention. 

But I cannot do better for my readers than to insert 
here Joseph Payne's description of the Play School es- 
tablished by Froebel, in Blankenberg, Germany. First, 
however, let us emphasize the fact that there is no such 
thing as the solitary action of a faculty. Objects which 
appeal, for instance, to the sense of touch, result in the 
percept of an external solid, which at once-incites to 
action, memory, conception, and analysis. Then, fur- 
ther, any concrete thing which presents resistance to 
touch, presents also colors to the eye, and, not unfre- 
quently, sounds to the ear; all of which are elements of 
the percept that follows. Every object which the child 
inspects is a combination of tangible and visible qual- 
ities, and, therefore, in the formal exercises for training 
the senses, the eye and the hand are engaged together. 
This simultaneous action of the two senses is provided 
for in equipment of the Kindergarten in the initiatory 
stage referred to. 

"Then comes the first Gift. It consists of six soft 
woollen balls of six different colors, three primary and 
three secondary. One of these is recognized as like, the 
others as unlike, the ball first known. The laws of 
similarity and discrimination are called into action ; 
sensation and perception grow clearer and stronger. I 
cannot particularize the numberless exercises that are 
to be got out of the various combinations of these six 
balls. 

u - The second Gift consists of a sphere, cube, and 



TRAINING OF THE SENSES. 103 

cylinder, made of hard wood. What was a ball before 
is now called a sphere. The different material gives 
rise to new experiences; a sensation, that of hard- 
ness, for instance, takes the place of softness ; while 
varieties of form suggest resemblance and contrast. 
Similar experiences of likeness and unlikeness are sug- 
gested by the behavior of these different objects. The 
easy rolling of the sphere, the sliding of the cube, the 
rolling as well as the sliding of the cylinder, illustrate 
this point. Then the examination of the cube, es- 
pecially its surfaces, edges, and angles, which any child 
can observe for himself, suggests new sensations, and 
their resulting perceptions. At the same time, notions 
of space, form, motion, relatively in general, take their 
place in mind, as the unshaped blocks which, when fitly 
compacted together, will lay the firm foundation of the 
understanding. These elementary notions, as the very 
groundwork of mathematics, will be seen to have their 
use as time goes on. 

" The third Gift is a large cube, making a whole which 
is divisible into eight small ones. The form is recog- 
nized as that of the cubes before seen ; the size is dif- 
ferent. But the new experiences consist in notions of 
relativity — of the whole in its relation to the parts, of 
the parts in their relation to the whole ; and thus the 
child acquires the notion and the names, and both in 
immediate connection with the sensible objects, of 
halves, quarters, eighths, and of how many of the 
small divisions make one of the larger. But in con- 
nection with the third Gift, a new faculty is called 
forth — Imagination — and with it the instinct of con- 



104 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

struction is awakened. The cubes are mentally trans- 
formed into blocks, and with them, building commences. 
The constructive faculty suggests imitation, but rests 
not in imitation ; it invents, it creates. Those eight 
cubes, placed in a certain relation to each other, make a 
long seat, or a seat with a back, or a throne for the 
Queen; or again, a cross, a doorway, etc. Thus does 
every play exhibit the characteristics of art, and ' con- 
forms (to use Bacon's words) the outward show of things 
to the desires of the mind; ' and thus the child, as I said 
before, not merely imitates, but creates. And here, I 
may remark, that the mind of the child is far less inter- 
ested in that which another mind has embodied in 
ready prepared forms, than in the forms which he con- 
ceives, and gives outward expression to, himself. He 
wants to employ his own mind upon the object, and 
does not thank you for attempting to deprive him of 
his rights. 

" The fourth, fifth, and sixth Gifts consist of cubes 
variously divided into solid parallelopipeds, or brick- 
shaped forms, and into smaller cubes and prisms. Ob- 
servation is called on with increasing strictness, rela- 
tivity appreciated, and the opportunity afforded for 
endless manifestations of constructiveness. And all the 
time impressions are forming in the mind, which, in 
due time, will bear geometrical fruits, and fruits too of 
aesthetic culture. The dawning sense of the beautiful, 
as well as of the true, is beginning to gain consistency 
and power." 

The Primary School Period. — The Formal Training of 
Sight and Touch in Concert. We now enter upon the 



TRAINING OF THE SENSES. 105 

period iu mind-growth, when the senses of touch and 
sight should be trained, gradually and discreetly, to ef- 
forts of exclusive attention. Hitherto, we have depend- 
ed solely upon the inherent attractiveness of the objects 
furnished as stimulants to spontaneous action. It is 
now the province of the teacher to present such objects 
and employ such methods as will add to the spontaneity 
the element of will-force; in other words, shall trans- 
form each spontaneity into an act of attention. 

Identical Exercises for Manual and Visual Training. — 
The hand, as we know well, is trained by systematic 
contact, involving resistance to motion. It is the min- 
ute variations of this contact in the effort of construct- 
ing different forms, that, through countless repetitions, 
finally result in manual skill and expertness. The eye, 
as we are also aware, is trained by scrutinizing, in count- 
less efforts, the endless diversities of color and the forms 
they indicate. In manual practice, the hand and the 
eye are engaged together, the one to make, the other to 
guide, every muscular motion. 

Primary Drawing. — The simplest lessons in drawing 
answer fully the conditions required in objects which 
are employed, at this initiatory stage, to drill the eye 
and the hand. 

(1) The figures in drawing can be so arranged as to 
begin with the simplest, and advance gradually, and with 
many repetitions, toward the more complex. 

(2) Elementary drawing furnishes the conditions in 
which imitation, stimulation, and reiteration have free 
and full play. 

(3) In the practice of drawing, every motion of the 



106 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

hand and the eye is, of necessity, directed by the will; 
and thus it affords an effective stimulant to early at- 
tention. 

(4) The' ideas gained from the different figures copied 
in elementary drawing, are simple, definite, and distinct; 
and, therefore, most suitable for the primary training 
of memory and the power of conception. It also tends 
to give precision to the earlier pictures of incipient 
imagination. 

Arrangement of Progressive Lessons. — Several series 
of progressive lessons proposed by various experts, ful- 
fill more or less hapily the conditions suitable for the 
tyro. The following is suggested as presenting a suc- 
cession of regular figures which precede and lead to the 
more complex forms that nature supplies for models in 
drawing. 

Children may engage, for their first lessons, in the 
drawing of parallel lines, straight and curved, imitating 
with pencils the copies made by the teacher. These 
may be followed, after much repetition, by practice in 
drawing parallel angles lying in the same perpendicular 
or the same the horizontal line. Next in the series is 
the simplest regular plane figure, namely, the triangle. 
Triangles, again, may be so adjusted in the series^that^the 
simplest, namely, the equiangular triangle, shall furnish 
the first model in the drawing of plane figures, and be 
followed by the right-angled triangle which, in its turn, 
is succeeded by the right-angled isosceles triangle. 

Next follow in a uniform sequence, in which the sim- 
pler precedes the more complex, the entire list of plane 
figures arranged in the order of increase in the number 



TRAINING OF THE SENSES. 107 

of their sides. This order comprises the square, the 
parallelogram, the pentagon, the hexagon, the heptagon, 
the octagon, and finally the circle; each of which may be 
made, in its turn, the model for the most careful and 
thorough practice. 

A caution may be given at the beginning of these 
rudimentary exercises for manual and visual training. 
Success lies, not in rapid advancement from lesson to 
lesson, but in the accuracy and facility attained by the 
pupil in the drawing of each figure. 

Drawing the Alphabet. — The capital letters of the 
alphabet may happily supply the next series of objects 
suitable for the further training of the hand and the 
eye. Up to this point, the straight lines have preced- 
ed the curves, and the circle has completed the series 
of regular figures. The capitals comprise straight lines, 
perpendicular, horizontal, and oblique; curves in com- 
bination with straight lines; and curves by themselves. 
The arrangement of the capitals then may proceed, as 
in previous lessons, from the simple to the more com- 
plex, beginning with I and L, and closing with and Q. 
The names of the characters may be given and pro- 
nounced incidentally, as in the previous lessons in draw- 
ing the plane figures. 

These exercises in drawing the alphabet should not 
in the least interfere with the " word method " in learn- 
ing to read, but be made auxiliary to it. For along 
with the elementary drawing proposed for the training 
of the hand and the eye, should go lessons for training 
in concert the eye and the ear. And in all the exercises 
for the early education of the senses, it should never for 



108 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

a moment be forgotten that two inseparable results uni- 
formly follow exactness and repetition in practice; name- 
ly, distinct ideas and the effective training of the fac- 
ulty exercised. 

The Ear: Its Primary Training. — I am sure of the 
hearty endorsement of experienced teachers, when I 
say that in the initial exercises of the primary school, 
there should be no abrupt transition from the methods 
of the Kindergarten or the home school. There ought, 
rather, to be a gradual and cautious merging of the play- 
method into the work-method, which requires discrimi- 
nating efforts. All the imperfect spontaneous habits 
which the child brings from the home or the play-school, 
ought still to be corrected by play-school methods. For 
instance, any defective articulation by the pupil, of 
particular words, may be cured by imitating their cor- 
rect utterance by the teacher. Indeed, imitation by 
the pupil, of the vocal sounds, whether musical or sig- 
nificant, will be, in the beginning, the main agency by 
which the ear of the child is systematically trained. 

Child Singing. — From the earliest act of perceiving 
external sounds, the infant ear is attracted by vocal 
melodies; and the lullabies owe their influence to this 
fact in child nature. Music soothes the restlessnes of 
the little one, excites his interest and awakens his sym- 
pathies. How natural that it should be used as one of 
the incipient means of training his ear. Songs whose 
melody and verse are so simple as to be easily appre- 
ciated by the class, should be selected for these primary 
sound-lessons. Such songs should be practiced and 
learned solely by imitating the teacher, both in repeat- 



TRAINING OF THE SENSES. IO9 

ing the words, and in singing them when committed to 
memory. It is remarkable how easily the average child 
commits and recalls connectedly the lines of a simple 
ditty which presents to his ear the attraction of words 
arranged for metrical effect. The writer could not 
have reached his fourth year when he learned from his 
mother's lips, and has not yet forgotten, the following 
from Mother Goose. 

" Bean porridge hot ; 
Bean porridge cold ; 
Bean porridge in the pot, 
Nine days old. " 

This facility in learning and repeating verses, which 
is due to their simple melody, is a contribution of na- 
ture to the means we have for the incipient training of 
the ear and the tongue. Learning first the words and 
then the tune, by imitating their vocalization, great care 
should be taken that the pupils pronounce every word 
with distinctness and strike every note with precision. 
In this way, a class of twenty or thirty little people may 
be taught to sing children's songs in concert, and the 
practice in singing be employed, not only for drilling 
the tongue and ear, but as a relief from other exercises 
which are less attractive. 

Phonic Drill as a Correction of Actual Defects in 
Vocal Utterance. — In commending the early practice of 
phonic drill, I must not be understood as advocating its 
adoption as a means of learning to read. Reading is 
the perception of the whole printed word as recalling 
the concept with which it is associated. More com- 
pletely defined, reading is the perception of an entire 



HO TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

printed sentence as recalling or suggesting an associated 
judgment or thought. Talking is likewise the knowl- 
edge and utterance of the spoken word and sentence, as 
wholes, to express the associated idea or thought. Why 
should not the child learn the wholes as expressed by 
characters, in the same manner as he has already suc- 
cessfully learned the whole as expressed by sounds?* 
Consequently, in the early lessons, reading will best be 
taught by presenting to the eye of the learner the visi- 
ble words which represent the audible words^already 
known? Of course innumerable reiterations are required, 
especially in the early steps. But vocal reading adds 
another element to the process of learning to read. It 
includes not only the gaining of the thought by the 
reader from the printed sentence, but the conveying of 
the thought to others by the vocal utterance of it. 

This use of the voice in reading, puts the necessity of 
previous vocal drill beyond all question. It is not, to 
say the least, desirable that the little pupil should en- 
counter the formidable difficulties of actual reading, 
while there are elementary sounds which, in talking, he 
still habitually fails to make. In the most serious un- 
dertaking of his life as yet, we should not crowd too 
many obstacles on him at once. If any teacher has been 
so fortunate as to find, on organizing her classes for 
elementary reading, that they are generally free from 
habits of defective articulation in talking, her experi- 
ence has been different from mine. 

Phonic Drill for Primary Classes consists in articulat- 

* See Parker's Talks on Reading— Appendix. 



TRAINING OF THE SENSES. Ill 

ing distinctly, in imitation of the teacher, the separate 
articulate sounds which combine to form our spoken 
words. These comprise, as you well know, forty ele- 
mentary vowel and consonant sounds, which may serve 
as a series of simple vocal gymnastics, to run parallel 
with the exercises in drawing geometrical figures. Tor 
this purpose the vocal elements may be divided into 
four groups, namely; the vowels, the labials, the Un- 
guals, and the palatals. Each group should be vocal- 
ized in turn under the teacher's lead, until every pupil 
can produce its sounds with unaided precision. Such 
vocal exercises should be short ; but, if conducted with 
exactness, they will result in forming the habit of dis- 
tinct utterance, which is the fundamental requisite in oral 
language. Especially in reading, to be taught subse- 
quently, is distinct articulation essential at the outset. 
Many persons, whose early faults in this line were neg- 
lected, have carried through life the habits of defective 
articulation. Manifestly, the vocal training that results 
from these exercises, will also have its effect in giving 
delicacy to the ear. 

Primary Counting. — Beginning with the lessons in 
drawing and the vocal drill, practice in counting with 
the eye and the hand may occupy a daily moderate por- 
tion of the pupil's time. For this exercise, a large 
frame may be suspended against the wall, say 2 x 3 ft., 
hung with wire, on which are strung wooden buttons or 
balls which one of the pupils can move with a pointer, 
while the others of the class count in concert. No ex- 
planation of the properties of numbers should go along 
with this primitive method, out of which the human 



112 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

race finally developed the science of arithmetic. All at- 
tempts to expand the principles of the science should 
be postponed to a later period. Meantime, the counting 
of the balls or buttons, which proceeds'with many repeti- 
tions of each process, should gradually advance from 
one perfected step to another of slightly increased com- 
plexity, until all the available operations in concrete 
numbers are completely mastered. Thus, counting by 
units may be followed with counting by twos, as 2, 4, 
6, 8, etc.; then by threes, by fours, by fives,~etc. ; till 
great precision and rapidity is reached by the class. 
Practice may follow in irregular additions wherein the 
teacher calls the number to be added ; the boy with the 
pointer moves the corresponding balls, and the class 
name in concert the resulting sum. 

Let the corresponding practice of the processes of 
subtraction, multiplication, and division, so far as they 
can be carried conveniently with concrete symbols, suc- 
ceed at judicious intervals. 

Thus we have, in the aggregate, a series of exercises 
in concrete numbers which, if thoroughly mastered, 
will lay the foundation for proficiency in abstract arith- 
metic, to which they lead. We can not too frequently 
urge that the pupils engaged in these efforts of con- 
crete reckoning should enter upon no new step in the 
series, until they have attained expertness in the steps 
that precede it; and that, in all cases, they should be 
encouraged to carry through each operation without 
help, as soon as the method is pointed out to them. 

The Faculties Exercised in Concrete Reckoning. — 
These concrete lessons which precede the study of ab- 



TRAINING OF THE SENSES. 113 

stract arithmetic, and which may occupy several months 
after primary reading is begun, call several faculties into 
salutary action. 

(1) They are not without effect in lending quickness 
and precision to the eye and tongue. 

(2) They supply concepts of things as units and 
groups of units which, by their complete resemblance to 
each other, constitute the best materials for early classi- 
fication. 

(3) The earliest operation of analysis easily centres 
upon the characteristic of unity or individuality so ob- 
vious in the concepts gained from concrete reckoning, 
and thus incites to spontaneous acts of abstraction. 

(4) Finally, definite notions of abstract numbers are 
the sure products of systematic and successful drill in 
the concrete operations described above. 



114 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 



READING, WRITING, SPELLING. 

The Eye, Ear, Tongue, and Hand trained in Primary 
Reading. — Recall the fact that our final lessons in draw- 
ing the capitals, and a simple phonic drill, closed the 
series of exercises preparatory . to reading^ The ele- 
mentary drawing lessons have given a degree of steadi- 
ness and precision to the hand of the pupil, and lent to 
his eye some power to discriminate the outlines of 
figures. The phonic articulations, taken from the lips 
of the teacher, have unconsciously cured the defects and 
increased the distinctness of his spoken words. His ear 
has likewise improved in the line of detecting the dis- 
tinctions of vocal sounds. Hand, eye, tongue, and ear 
have been engaged in a series of elementary operations 
that demand and develop acts of prolonged attention. 
Could there be devised any better preparation for the 
serious difficulties to be grappled with in learning to 
read, write, and spell ? Is it not marvellous that, for so 
many centuries, little children were compelled, on their 
first entrance into school, to face objects that were 
naturally distasteful, without previous training? 

The most effective method of learning to read is 
based on strict psychological reasons. The child has 
learned to talk, by associating with the things he has 
seen and handled particular oral sounds, which he has 
succeeded in pronouncing by dint of innumerable repe- 



READING, WRITING, SPELLING. 115 

titions. His entire stock of knowledge in language con- 
sists of spoken words as wholes associated in memory 
with objects to which his senses were directed. He is 
already initiated into nature's process of learning to 
talk ; let him simply continue this process in learning to 
read. 

Nature's Method applied in Learning to Read. — If the 
child learns to talk and afterwards to read by the same 
natural method, he certainly has advantages in begin- 
ning to read, which he lacked in beginning to talk. For 
in beginning to talk, the organs he used, were wholly 
without antecedent training. But in beginning to read, 
the organs exercised have the benefit of previous drill. 
Moreover, talking or using spoken words is based on a 
single association, that of "sign and thing signified ;" 
while reading, or using the written or printed words as 
means of expression, is based on two associations, 
namely, the association of written word with the spoken 
word and also with the thing signified. Of course, the 
gaining of a new idea by means of two associations, is 
easier than by means of one. We would infer, then, that 
reading would progress much more rapidly than talking; 
and so it generally does. But the early lessons in read- 
ing lack, for the most part, a single incitement which 
was previously present in talking. For in talking, the 
spontaneous naming of the thing is stimulated by its 
presence ; whereas, in reading, such stimulation is gen- 
erally wanting. 

Reading with th« Objects Present. — The wisest course, 
then, is to supply the initiatory lessons in reading with 
the same incitement under which the spoken words were 



Il6 TALKS OX PSYCHOLOGY. 

learned. Accordingly, the first hundred selected for 
incipient reading should embrace the most familiar 
monosyllabic names of things related to each other in 
the child's daily experience. These things should all be 
placed before the eyes of the class in the lessons that fol- 
low. As the introductory lesson, the word Hat, for in- 
stance, may be written in plain script on the board, and 
pointing to the thing itself, the teacher may invite the 
pupils to inspect and pronounce its written name. As 
aids in so doing, they have before them bothThe familiar 
object and its equally familiar spoken name. A few 
reiterations of sight and sound will make the written 
name almost equally familiar. 

First Reading and Writing Combined. — The class 
may now write the word Hat, copying carefully with 
their pencils the form on the board. This first lesson in 
writing will be no violent transition from their last les- 
sons in drawing. They have already sketched the initial 
character, H, and the remaining characters are simple 
enough. Let them now write repeatedly, and pro- 
nounce in concert, the word they have written. The 
result is, they have themselves formed the new word ; 
they have, of necessity, inspected it carefully; they have 
associated it with the spoken word and, inevitably, with 
the thing it designates. What more simple or natural 
method can be devised for the introduction of ele- 
mentary reading ? The little people have the stimulus 
of making for themselves, and using, a novel contrivance 
for naming a well-known thing, which, being before 
them, duplicates nature's process by which they have 
learned to talk. 



READING, WRITING, SPELLING. II 7 

Twenty or thirty words, short and simple, and desig- 
nating present objects, may next be copied successfully 
from the teacher's script, pronounced, and committed to 
memory with many reiterations of pencil and tongue. 
Eemember that here as elsewhere, but especially here, 
" Haste makes Waste," and that the condition of final 
success demands the complete mastery of every step 
before taking the next one. The errors which prevail 
in the district school, consist, as I think, not so much in 
the choice of wrong methods, as in the slovenly applica- 
tion of right methods. 

First Reading of the Sentence. — With a stock of writ- 
ten words retained distinctly in memory, and flowing 
easily from the pencil's point, our lively youngsters will 
now make successfully their first efforts in reading and 
writing the simplest sentences. These initiatory sen- 
tences ought to express the relations to each other, of 
the familiar objects whose written names the class have 
already learned. Thus they have made and committed 
the written names hat and hook. They may now be in- 
cited to read with the least help possible and then copy 
the sentence, The hat is on the hook. 

The acts of carefully copying and distinctly reading 
the rudimentary lesson in hand, may be repeated until 
they produce the most perfect facility of pencil and 
tongue. Then the article a may be substituted for the, 
first before hat and afterwards before hook; and, as the 
daily lessons in writing and reading progress, the sen- 
tence may be gradually transformed by such successive 
substitutions, as will recall for practice most of the 
written words already familiar. Finally, when the pupils 



Il8 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

are able to write with facility, and read without hesita- 
tion, thirty or forty such rudimentary sentences, they 
may enter with the right antecedent training upon the 
reading of printed sentences in the primary reader. 

Formal Practice in Writing. — Meanwhile, the formal 
exercises in drawing the capital letters have been suc- 
ceeded by equally formal practice in forming, with the 
pencil, the script letters, small and great. 

Along with the copying of written words as wholes in 
the elementary reading, has gone, under the guidance of 
the teacher, the more precise copying, one by one, of 
the characters arranged for beginners in an approved 
system of penmanship. The practice in forming and 
naming the separate letters, and the practice in writing 
and reading words as wholes, should continue as parallel 
lessons ; w T hile the reading of print progresses until the 
two are merged into one in the systematic exercise 
called spelling. 

Spelling Learned by Writing. — The spoken word is 
addressed to the ear, the written word to the eye. The 
memory of a spoken word is, therefore, the concept of an 
articulate sound ; the memory of a written word is the 
concept of a visible form. The written word is com- 
posed of elements, each of which is addressed to the eye, 
and furnishes to memory also the concept of a visible 
from. The written word, as a whole, has been learned 
by repeatedly writing, scrutinizing, and pronouncing it. 
What is more natural than to employ the same method 
in learning the elements it contains ? 

The order of mental action, as expended on the 



READING, WRITING, SPELLING. U9 

orange, was first to gain a percept of its form as a whole; 
next to examine, one by one, the parts that together 
composed the whole. First the whole, and then the 
parts, is the order of nature in acquiring knowledge of 
whatever sort. 

The pupil has had special preparation for pursuing 
this order in the spelling of written words. He has 
formed with the pencil, pronounced, and committed to 
memory, an adequate number of such words. He has 
acquired in formal writing a complete knowledge of the 
separate forms and names of the script letters that com- 
pose these words. He may now begin, under the teach- 
er's guidance, simply to note and to name each letter as 
he forms it in the act of writing words. 

Spelling follows the same Series as Reading. — In this 
new exercise, let him commence again and follow 
through in the same order, the series of short, well 
known words which he traversed in learning to read 
This series is so arranged that like groups of two or 
three letters occur in the consecutive words that com- 
pose it, and give occasion for the reiteration which is 
so essential to thoroughness. The exercise which now 
unites in one the two acts of writing and spelling the 
word, should follow the lessons in reading, from which 
examples should be selected for daily practice. And let 
this practice, with minute attention to subordinate 
parts, be continued in a series that rises gradually from 
the monosyllable to the longest polysyllable, until the 
pupil can write from memory any word that he knows, 
and has acquired the fixed habit of noticing and remem- 



120 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

bering the letters that combine to form every word he 
sees. After two or three years of the daily training 
described, his writing and his spelling become the inde- 
pendent means of expressing his thoughts, and he needs 
no more formal practice in the one or the other. 

The old method of tongue spelling which consists in 
naming successively the letters and then pronouncing 
the written word they form, is more of a hindrance 
than a help in pursuing the plan of teaching proposed. 
To say, for example, doubleyew, aitch, double e,el 
spell " WJieel" is one of the absurdities which the school 
master of the past has bequeathed to us. The learner 
may, however, by continuing the phonic drill be easily 
taught to analyze the spoken word into its phonetic ele- 
ments, as a help to distinct utterance in elocution. 
But vocal analysis, as addressed to the ear, has little 
connection with the processes of spelling by letters which 
are addressed to the eye. But why should I give any 
further details in the natural method of teaching the 
rudiments of reading, writing, and spelling ? Are they 
not written out minutely in a score of books, most of 
which are excellent, especially " Parker's Talks" to 
which I have already referred ? 

What Faculties are Effectually Trained by the Nat- 
ural Methods of Learning to Read, to Write, and to 
Spell? Elementary Beading conducted according to the 
system described, calls into simultaneous exertion sev- 
eral intellectual powers. (1.) The eye scrutinizes in- 
tently the form of the word as a whole; (2.) the hand as 
directed by the eye, is persistently engaged in copying 
it; (3.) the tongue utters the spoken word it repre- 



READING, WRITING, SPELLING. 121 

sents; to which, in turn, the ear gives earnest heed. Eye, 
hand, tongue, and ear are all employed in the strenuous 
effort of attention. The percept of the written word 
that results, is the product of sight, outlined by touch, 
and associated with the percept of the spoken word 
gained through hearing. It is, therefore, associated all 
the more closely with the thing which both the written 
and the spoken word designate. It consequently sup- 
plies a concept for memory that contains in complete- 
ness all the elements gained from the different sources 
I have named. The concept of the written word then, 
acquired through the strenuous action of all the intel- 
lectual senses, answers fully a condition for training the 
memory. Memory can be trained only by the number 
of clear and complete concepts it receives through the 
strenuous action of the faculties. 

Elementary reading on the plan proposed, also in- 
cludes the frequent and numerous reiterations which is 
another indispensable condition to unfading distinct- 
ness in memory. See " Principles in the Training of 
Memory," page 34. 

It is clearly manifest that the lucid and complete con- 
cepts that train the memory in elementary reading, fur- 
nish in abundance the genuine materials for the opera- 
tion of faculties subsequent in the series. Especially 
do these concepts, when recalled from memory, stimu- 
late to definite action the faculties of conception and 
analysis. See " Memory and Conception Depend on 
Sense Perception" page 38. 

Early Exercise in Writing commenced and carried on 
as suggested, evidently requires persistent and sustained 



122 TALKS 0A T PSYCHOLOGY. 

efforts of the hand and the eye. The concepts gained 
therefrom, are, as we have seen, mainly identical with 
those of reading; which are, in this way, intensified and 
made tenacious in memory. No early training of the 
hand, the eye, the memory, and the conceptive power, is 
more effective than that which results from the inces- 
sant use of the pen. It gives precision to touch and 
sight; fixes indelibly in the memory the script form, 
and consequently the idea which the form expresses; 
and supplies for conception and the faculties that fol- 
low, the clearest concepts as the objects on which they 
centre. Copying, slowly and clumsily in its commence- 
ment, the simplest script words and fastening them in 
memory; it finally, by assiduous practice, reaches spon- 
taneous facility and swiftness as an instrument of ex- 
pression. 

Disciplinary Effect of Primary Spelling. — Spelling as 
taught primarily by writing, scrutinizing, and naming 
one by one, the letters which compose a written word, 
is, in its disciplinary effect, an important addition to 
the elements that render a concept full, vivid, and tena- 
cious. As furnishing a great variety of accurate sight- 
concepts, it demands a constant repetition of minute 
acts of attention which give precision and exactness to 
sight, memory, conception, and analysis. Especially 
does it call the power of analysis into more systematic 
and lively exercise than either reading or writing has 
afforded. Beginning laboriously with making, noting, 
and naming the single letters of a monosyllable, which 
fade instantly from memory and are restored by count- 
less repetitions, it finally confers, by incessant practice, 



READING, WRITING, SPELLING, 1 23 

such range and accuracy of knowledge that the memory 
of a cultured mind gathers and retains about fifty thou- 
sand printed words, as so many groups of letters, each of 
which is a distinct concept. I hardly need say that 
spelling increases the associations of "sign and thing 
signified" by adding thereto the subtle association of 
"whole and parts." 



124 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY, 



Chapter »¥♦ 

COMPOSITION. ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR. AB- 
STRACT ARITHMETIC. WHAT FACULTIES DO 
THEY STIMULA TE AND TRAIN ? 

Composition is the Act of Expressing Thought by 
means of written words. It consists simply in substi- 
tuting the pen or pencil for the tongue, in the use of 
language. It requires, as an antecedent [preparation, 
some knowledge of spelling, and such practice in writ- 
ing as enables the child to write legible words recalled 
from memory and used to express thought. Elemen- 
tary composition combines reading, writing, and spell- 
ing in a single exercise, and employs them to express 
the simple judgments which the child's mind naturally 
makes. It is the practical application of the pupil's 
attainments thus far, to the purpose of expressing 
thought. Early composition then, as an exercise, sup- 
plies the child's first lessons in thinking ; and writing, 
spelling, and reading are the means of communicating 
thought. 

The Place of Early Composition in the Series. — Of 
course, the initial lessons in composition must not super- 
sede the exercises in reading, writing, and spelling as 
described in chapter three. Reading should be contin- 
ued by itself as a daily lesson, until the learner can read 



COMPOSITION. ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR. 1 25 

with facility, distinctness, and natural inflections of 
voice, any passage at sight. Writing-lessons, as such, 
should end only with the attainment of a good hand, 
with the habit of mechanical correctness, and with dex- 
terity in the use of the pen as an instrument of expres- 
sion. Spelling, as a special exercise, should be kept up 
until the writer has formed the habit of spontaneously 
noting and recalling from memory the letters that com- 
pose a written word, as distinctly as the form of the 
word itself. 

Composition, however, may profitably be commenced 
when reading, writing, and spelling have progressed so 
far as to enable the learner to write, independently of 
copies, the w r ords which he constantly speaks. Because 
of the varying circumstances in different localities, the 
precise time cannot be fixed upon; but children in 
school, under ordinary conditions, ought, as seems to me, 
to begin composition before they are eight years old. 
The exercise throughout, whether elementary or ad- 
vanced, tends to promote the habit of consecutive think- 
ing, and to vivify and familiarize the ideas and the vo- 
cabulary which other studies are constantly increasing. 

Exercises in Composition : How arranged. — The lessons 
in composition must be so arranged as to accord with the 
order of mind-growth. In other words, they must begin 
with the simple, and advance step by step, towards the 
complex. They may open with the simplest description 
in short sentences of things present, which the juvenile 
writer sees, hears, and handles. They may, in fact, con- 
sist in object lessons written out in detail by the pupil 
under the judicious prompting or questioning of the 



126 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

teacher. The teacher displaying, for example, an 
orange, asks, "What is the shape of this orange ?" The 
class write, each with a pencil, " The orange is round/' 
The teacher asks, " What covers the orange ?" The class 
respond in script, " The skin covers the orange." Sim- 
ilar questions may follow, which elicit written answers 
that affirm in simple, separate judgments all the obvious 
parts and properties of the orange. The orange is soft. 
The orange is yellow. The orange contains pulp. The 
orange contains seeds. The orange is good to eat. 

Other objects within range of the senses may be anal- 
yzed and described with similar minutness and simplic- 
ity of written statement, and the class may finally close 
this series of rudimentary papers on things at hand, with 
good-natured descriptions of each other's persons or 
faces or conduct. 

The next list of topics, in which the writers express 
in brief sentences the thoughts which their present ob- 
servations suggest, may embrace the events that occur 
around them. Composition-writing is now one of the 
regular class exercises, occupying its stated time, and 
always under the direction of the teacher. The child 
may describe, in short sentences, what he sees others do- 
ing. In an ordinary school-room, there will be no lack 
of incidents which are of perpetual interest to such ob- 
servers. Actions and movements and sounds that are 
ordinarily obstacles to study, may now be made the ob- 
jects of ^special attention in order to facilitate their natu- 
ral expression in script. The teacher may go through 
a performance in pantomime, asking the class to note 
down each gesture, posture, expression of face, etc. In 



COMPOSITION. ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR. \2J 

this way , the pencil becomes the facile instrument in 
communicating the ideas which the senses are gathering 
from the objects and events within their range. Of the 
time occupied by these lessons, which strengthen the 
habit of close observation and careful expression, the 
teacher must be the judge. With her sympathetic help, 
there will be no lack of interest in them on the part of 
the writers. Such lessons should, at any rate, be con- 
tinued until the class has gained the power of expressing 
its thoughts on things at hand, with facility and without 
special assistance. The next step is an obvious one. 

Compositions that train the Memory. — The young 
writers are ready to engage in an exercise that will re- 
quire them to express in script, ideas recalled from the 
immediate past. The act of writing composition will 
now necessitate two kinds of preparatory efforts. One is 
the careful observation that gathers ideas and thoughts 
from the outside things ; the other is the act of atten- 
tion, which recalls from memory these ideas and thoughts 
for the purpose of expressing them in written sen- 
tences. 

Observation and Memory. — The class may now be 
urged to examine, during the intervals of school-work, 
some object of natural interest outside. Particular 
trees, brooks, horses, cats, and dogs will supply suit- 
able topics for the first ten or twelve elementary papers 
of this sort. The teacher may, in her discretion, furnish 
beforehand, for the first two or three compositions, a 
series of questions which suggest the parts and proper- 
ties to be noted in the object under inspection. But 
they may soon be left to their own observations in gath- 



128 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

ering facts for the interesting descriptions they are sure 
to write at this period. The objects described should 
increase in complexity, step by step. 

These compositions on things absent are naturally fol- 
lowed by compositions on the incidents and events the 
writers have personally witnessed. Such topics will 
lend to the writing the incitement of actual experience, 
and revive with distinctness the thoughts derived there- 
from. Conducted in the order and method suggested 
for the previous series, they will fitly introduce the 
writing of simple narratives. 

Narrative. — A narrative gives an account in language, 
of a series of incidents or events connected together in 
the order of their occurrence. The simplest narrative 
is a short story which embraces familiar objects and the 
incidents that affect them. Our juvenile writers may 
properly begin with reproducing in script, stories heard 
from the teacher's or the mother's lips. 

Style. — As the objects and events, whether present or 
past, on which they have written, have increased in com- 
plexity of properties and relations; the simple sentences 
formed in the beginning, have likewise increased in com- 
plexity of structure. In other words, the style in com- 
position has been based, let us hope, upon the character 
of the thought which the sentences embodies. In 
adapting expression to thought, the subject and predicate 
have both been unconsciously modified by a limiting 
adjunct-word, phrase, or sentence, and the principal sen- 
tences have been joined together by connectives to show 
a similar relation in the facts or events they depict. Let 
me urge, however, that throughout their lessons, a mode 



COMPOSITION. ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR. 1 29 

of expression be sought in all stages of progress, that 
is as simple as the nature of the topic will warrant. Per- 
haps the prevailing fault in the style of young writers to- 
day is excessive verbosity. 

Home Topics. — The wiiting of stories w T ill make severe 
drafts upon memory as stored by previous observation 
and reading. Let the writer, as soon as may be, use the 
materials he has gathered from his own experience. The 
best incentives to thought and expression at this period are 
the connected incidents in which the child has personal 
interest. Let him give an account, for instance, of a 
game of ball that he witnessed, or of a picnic that he 
attended, or of what he saw or heard at a celebration on 
the Fourth of July. Here, as elsewhere, let the topics 
chosen be such as to awaken his sympathies. For it is 
impossible, either for the young or the old, to write 
impressively except under the stimulation of interest. 

Rudimentary Invention. — Here, under the kindly 
guidance of the teacher, the pupil enters the domain of 
invention. The concepts gathered from the characters, 
actions, and sufferings of those he loves, stimulate his 
imagination to form new pictures of human experiences 
far more striking than any that his hands have touched 
or his eyes seen. Guide him wisely in the use of this 
newly-discovered power. Let him build and describe 
castles in the air, if he will ; but see to it that they are 
built in harmony with reality, beauty, and truth. Here 
we will take leave of our interesting young workers with 
the pen, knowing well that if they have followed faith- 
fully the path we have pointed out thus far, it will 
surely lead them to higher attainments in the future. 



I30 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

The Faculties Trained by Composition- Writing. — The 

faculties called into strenuous exercise by composition- 
writing in its different stages, have been named in- 
cidentally as our lessons proceeded. But, since it is our 
special purpose to determine the value of early studies 
as mental gymnastics, we will dismiss the subject with a 
more direct statement of the effects of this exercise on 
the juvenile faculties. 

(1.) Expression gives vividness to every concept and 
thought which it clothes in language. Especially is this 
true of thoughts expressed in script: composition conse- 
quently stimulates to vigorous action every faculty whose 
products it presents. 

(2.) Early composition on objects and incidents 
under the eyes of the writer, stimulate the senses to per- 
sistent action, and systematize the rudimentary efforts of 
analysis. 

(3.) Compositions that reproduce and express the ob- 
jects and incidents of the immediate past, evidently 
train the nascent memory and the senses on which it 
depends. The demands for careful analysis will be still 
more urgent. 

(4.) The simple narrative makes constant drafts on 
observation, memory, conception, and analysis. 

(5.) Inceptive invention restrains, directs, and syste- 
matizes the spontaneous products of the child's imagina- 
tion. 

(6.) Finally, composition gives readiness in the use 
of words learned from other sources, lends variety and 
facility to expression, and makes the pen its natural in- 
strument. 



COMPOSITION. EIEMENTARY GRAMMAR. I31 

Abstract Arithmetic. — Recall the series of lessons in 
concrete numbers given as a preparation for the study of 
abstract arithmetic, and lasting more than a year. By 
exercises in counting, which gradually increase in com- 
plexity, our model class have attained expertness in 
reckoning with the numerical frame, with marbles or 
toy money, or with any concrete things which represent 
identical itnits in forms convenient for handling. The 
earnest teacher has led her pupils, with repetitions that 
resulted in readiness, through all the fundamental 
operations in numbers that can be easily shown on a 
numerical frame. The happy result is that, though 
knowing little of the properties of numbers, they have 
these numerical operations at the tongue's end, and can 
go through them all with spontaneous rapidity. 

They have also, let us hope, continued without inter- 
ruption parrallel lessons in drawing and writing, in which 
they have learned to form the different figures that 
stand for abstract numbers from 1 to inclusive. The 
multiplication table has been commenced on the numer- 
ical frame; let it now be completed by studying the 
table itself and committing it to memory with indelible 
exactness. The identical operations previously mastered 
by use of the numerical frame should now be gradually 
withdrawn from its help, and carried through independ- 
ently. As a result to which all previous practice has 
contributed, the pupil has attained the power of con- 
ceiving abstract numbers whether single or combined. 

But the pupil, however expert in concrete reckoning, 
should not be allowed to enter upon the study of ab- 
stract arithmetic with a leap. The thoughtful teacher 



13 2 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

will give him the constant support of concrete examples, 
whenever they are available, in writing and reading num- 
bers and in the processes that follow. For, as the 
growth of mind is gradual, so its transitions from one 
kind of activity to another ought never to be made 
abruptly. But having introduced the tyro in numbers 
to abstract arithmetic, we may safely leave him on its 
threshold. For its text-books are excellent both in 
method and arrangement, and the teachers of arithmetic 
are confessedly among the best in the profession. 

Arithmetic as a Study. What Faculties Does it Ex- 
ercise? Abstraction. — It is clear that our concepts of 
pure numbers are abstracted from the concrete objects 
gathered in by the senses. As the elements whose re- 
lations are developed by the science of numbers, they 
are addressed primarily to the faculty of abstraction by 
whose action they are consciously grasped. I may add 
that the notions of pure numbers are among the earliest 
abstract ideas which the mind of the child naturally 
realizes. The simple operations in arithmetic may, for 
this reason, precede the studies of grammar and geog- 
raphy. 

Classification Incited by Pure Numbers. — But the con- 
cepts of pure numbers not only appeal primarily to the 
faculty of abstraction and elicit its strenuous efforts, but 
they furnish, for the classifying faculty, the materials for 
its first perfect w r ork. For the only perfect classes that 
exist are formed by the grouping together of complete 
identities like those of the abstract units. Further, the 
unit of each higher class in pure numbers, is the uni- 
form decimal multiple of the unit in the class below. 



COMPOSITION. ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR, 133 



Thus in the successive classes,, units, tens, hundreds, 
thousands, the ten contains ten units ; the hundred, ten 
tens ; the thousand, ten hundreds. The denominations 
of Federal money are based on decimal classification and 
consequently constitute a perfect system of currency. 

Arithmetic Disciplines Chiefly the Reasoning Faculty. — 
The operations of arithmetic demand steady and per- 
sistent efforts of the reasoning faculty. The processes 
by which most of its problems are solved are faultless 
examples of deductive reasoning. The general pro- 
positions from which the deductions are made are either 
axioms or derived from axioms, and are, therefore, abso- 
lute certainties. All the steps from the premises to the 
conclusions are likewise free from possible errors, if cor- 
rectly taken; and the conclusion is, in such case, beyond 
all question. Thus the young student often finds his 
first examples of perfect reasoning in the pages of his 
arithmetic. 

English Grammar : Its Nature. — The science of the 
language we speak, must conform to the principle so 
often referred to as settling the place a study should hold 
in the order of consecutive studies. It must be rightly 
adjusted as a whole in the series of mental gymnastics 
which accord with the series of unfolding faculties, while 
its parts must be so arranged as to advance from the 
simple to a gradually increasing complexity. 

Grammar as a science, comprises the relations of 
words in the sentence which expresses the relations of 
thought. Its matter, therefore, partakes of the subtlety 
of thought itself. The study of grammar consequently 
employs the higher faculties exclusively, and for this 



I 3 4 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 



reason, should be preceded by the elements of arithmetic 

and geography. 

The Preparation Required. — For the same reason, no 
study in the earlier course should be approached with a 
more careful and complete preparation. Reading, writ- 
ing, spelling, and especially composition have led the 
pupil up to the period when the actual making of the 
sentence is fitly joined with a careful study of the offices 
and relations of the words that compose it. There should, 
at this juncture, be no change from the sentences com- 
posed by himself, to the inspection of sentences composed 
by another. Indeed, experience has shown that the method 
is most successful wherein the pupil scrutinizes the office 
and relations of grammatical elements as he puts them 
together himself. Following this method, let him pro- 
ceed, not with the complex structures he has learned to 
form, but with the simple ones with which he began 
composition. It will be easy to bring out, by a series of 
simple, well-considered questions, the function of each 
element when joined to the word it modifies. The 
scholarly teacher knows how limited in number these 
elements are, and how great the variety of combinations 
they are capable of making. The nature and functions 
of the elements, and, further on. their names, must first 
be learned by the use of the simplest sentences; and then 
their more complicated grouping should follow in the 
order so often urged. A few simple examples will suffice 
to show what office each word or group of words performs 
when joined to other words. 



COMPOSITION. ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR. 1 35 



Example. 



Man walked. 

The man walked. 

The lame man walked slowly. 



The lame man at the hospital, 
walked slowly to the station. 



The lame man at the hospital 
who was very weak, walked 
slowly to the station, where he 
took the cars. 



What word names the person 
who did something ? 

Which word tells what man 
did? 

What word points out man ? 
f Which word tells what kind 
J of a man walked ? 
j Which word tells how he 
^ walked ? 

What group of words show 
where the lame man was stop- 
ping? 

What group of words tells us 
I whither the lame man walked ? 

What group of words express 
the condition the lame man was 
in? 

What group gives his action 
. at the station ? 



This series of elementary lessons may occupy several 
weeks, the class copying, from the teacher's dictation, 
each element when added, and then writing many similar 
examples of it in words of its own choosing. In this way, 
a series of simple exercises like these may lead gradually 
to naming and defining the elements, one by one, while 
appending them to words in the complex sentence that 
results. Then a host of examples should be written by 
the class under the teacher's lead, showing the countless 
permutations by which these elements combine to make 
the various forms which a complex sentence may assume. 
Finally, the parts of speech may be defined, named, and 



136 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY. 

learned from an adequate number of examples, and, by 
a slow progression that leaves no difficulty unmastered, 
the class may be prepared fer accurate parsing and ana- 
lysis as taught in some good text-book. I would urge 
that, in the exercises suggested, careful attention be 
given to connectives, as they furnish the key to gram- 
matical construction. The examples offered above con- 
tain nearly all the grammatical elements. 

The scholarly teacher appreciates the peculiar character 
of the language he teaches, and shapes his methods ac- 
cordingly. He knows well that, with the exception of 
the personal and relative pronouns and one or two verb- 
terminations, the English tongue is without inflections, 
and that the relations of its words to each other are, 
consequently, determined mainly by the position they 
hold in the sentence. 

Grammar as a Gymnastic Exercise. — The science of 
grammar deals with the classified offices and relations of 
words it presents by means of definitions. The classes 
of words with which it begins, are, therefore, the pro- 
ducts of the classifying faculty; and it is on this faculty 
that grammar makes its first draft. The analytical 
reasoning that follows, and reveals the various relations 
of words as the elements of the sentence in its different 
forms, exercises powerfully class judgment and the reas- 
oning faculty. Consequently, English grammar, as a 
science, has its proper place among the advanced gymn- 
astics, though many a school still assigns it as an elemen- 
tary study, despite the fact that its results in such case 
are uniformly valueless. 



Books for Teachers. 



INDUSTRIAL. 
-EDUCATION^ 



Laves Industrial Education. 

Industrial Education ; a guide to Manual Training. By 
Samuel G. Love, principal of the Jamestown, (N. Y.) 
public schools. Cloth, 12mo, 330 pp. with 40 full-page 
plates containing nearly 400 figures. Price, $1.75 ; to 
teachers, $1.40 ; by mail, 12 cents extra. 
1. Industrial Education not understood. Probably the only 
man who has wrought out the problem in a practical way is 

^ Samuel G. Love, the superin- 
tendent of the Jamestown (N. 
Y.) schools. Mr. Love has now 
about 2,400 children in the 
primary, advanced, and high 
schools under his charge ; he 
is assisted by fifty teachers, so 
that an admirable opportunity 
was offered. In 1874 (about 
fourteen years ago) Mr. Love 
began his experiment ; gradu- 
ally he introduced one occu- 
pation, and then another, uatil 
at last nearly all the pupils are 
following some form of educat- 
ing work. 

2. Why it is demanded. The 
reasons for introducing it are 
clearly stated by Mr. Love. It 
was done because the educa- 
tion of the books left the pu, 
pils unfitted to meet the prao* 
tical problems the world asks them to solve. The world does 
not have a field ready for the student in book-lore. The state- 
ments of Mr. Love should be carefully read. 

3. It is an educational book. Any one can give some 
formal work to girls and boys. What has been needed has 
been some one who could find out what is suited to the little 
child who is in the " First Reader," to the one who is in the 
"Second Reader," and so on. It must be remembered the 
effort is not to make carpenters, and type-setters, and dress- 
makers of boys and girls, but to educate them by these occujpar 
tions better than without them. 




=LOVE= 



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4. It tells the teacher just what to do. Every teacher should 
put some form of Manual Training into his school. At pres- 
ent the only ones are Gymnastics, Writing, and Drawing. 
But there are, it is estimated, more than thirty forms of 
Industrial Work that may be made educative. The teacher 
who studies this book will want to try some of these forms. 
He will find light on the subject. 

5. It must be noted that a demand now exists for men and 
women to give Industrial Training. Those teachers who are 
wise will begin now to study this important subject. The 
city of New York has decided to introduce it into its schools, 
where 140,000 pupils are gathered. It is a mighty undertak- 
ing, but it will succeed. The people see the needjof a differ- 
ent education than that given by the books. Book education 
is faulty, partial, incomplete. But where are the men and 
women to come from who can give instruction ? Those who 
read this book and set to work to introduce its methods into 
their schools will be fitting themselves for higher positions. 

The Lutheran Observer says :— " This volume on Manual Teaching" 
ought to be speedily introduced into all the public schools. It is admir- 
ably adapted for its purpose and we recommend it to teachers every- 
where." 

The Nashville American says :— " This is a practical volume. It 
embodies the results of many years of trial in a search after those 
occupations that will educate in the true sense of the word. It is not a 
work dealing in theories or abstractions, but in methods and details, 
such as will help the teacher or parent selecting occupations for chil- 
dren.' 1 

West Virginia School Journal— "It shows what can be done by a 
resolute and spirited teacher." 

Burlington Free Press.—" An excellent hand book. M 
Prin. Sherman Williams, Glens Falls, N. Y.— U I am sure it will 
greatly aid the solution of this difficult problem." 

Prof. Edward Brooks, Late Principal Millersburg, (Pa.) Normal 
School.—" It is a much needed work ; is the best book I have seen." 

Supt. S. T. Dutton, New Haven.— "The book is proof that some 
practical results have been reached and is full of promise for the 
future. 

Supt. John E. Bodley, Minneapolis.—" I know of no one more com- 
petent to tell other superintendents and teachers how to introduce Man- 
ual Training than Prof. Love." 

Oil City Blizzard.—" The system he has marked out must be a good 
one, or he would never have allowed it to go out." 

Buffalo Times.—" Teachers are looking into this subject and this will 
help them." 

Voston Advertiser.— " A plain unvarnished explanation." 

Jamestown, N. Y. Evening Journal.— "In the hands of an intelligent 
teacher cannot fail to yield satisfactory results." 



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Curries Early Education. 

" The Principles and Practice of Early and Infant School 
Education. " By James Currie, A. M., Prin. Church of 
Scotland Training College, Edinburgh. Author of 
" Common School Education," etc. With an introduction 
by Clarence E. Meleney, A. M., Supt. Schools, Paterson, 
N. J. Bound in blue cloth, gold, 16mo, 290 pp. Price, 
$1.25 ; to teachers, $i oo ; by mail, 8 cents extra. 

WHY THIS BOOK IS VALUABLE. 

1. Pestalozzi gave New England its educational supremacy. 
The Pestalozzian wave struck this country more than forty 

years ago, and produced a mighty shock. It set New Eng- 
land to thinking. Horace Mann became eloquent to help on 
the change, and went up and down Massachusetts, urging in 
earnest tones the change proposed by the Swiss educator. 
What gave New England its educational supremacy was its 
reception of Pestalozzi's doctrines. Page, Philbrick, Barnard 
were all his disciples. 

2. It is the work of one of the best expounders of Pes- 
talozzi. 

Forty years ago there was an upheaval in education. Pes- 
talozzi's words were acting like yeast upon educators ; thou- 
sands had been to visit his schools at Yverdun, and on their 
return to their own lands had reported the wonderful scenes 
they had witnessed. Rev. James Currie comprehended the 
movement, and sought to introduce it. Grasping the ideas of 
this great teacher, he spread them in Scotland ; but that 
country was not elastic and receptive. Still, Mi*. Currie's 
presentation of them wrought a great change, and he is to be 
reckoned as the most powerful exponent of the new ideas in 
Scotland. Hence this book, which contains them, must be 
considered as a treasure by the educator. 

3. This volume is really a Manual of Principles of Teaching. 
It exhibits enough of the principles to make the teacher 

intelligent in her practice. Most manuals give details, but no 
foundation principles. The first part lays a psychological 
basis — the only one there is for the teacher ; and this is done 
in a simple and concise way. He declares emphatically that 
teaching cannot be learned empirically. That is, that one can- 
not watch a teacher and see how he does it, and then, imitat- 
ing, claim to be a teacher. The principles must be learned. 

4. It is a Manual of Practice in Teaching. 



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It discusses the subjects of Number, Object Lessons, Color, 
Form, Geography, Singing, and Reading in a most intelligent 
manner. There is a world of valuable suggestions here for 
the teacher. 

5. It points out the characteristics of Lesson-Giving — or 
Good Teaching. 

The language of the teacher, the tone of voice, the question- 
ing needed, the sympathy with the class, the cheerfulness 
needed, the patience, the self-possession, the animation, the 
decorum, the discipline, are all discussed, This latter term is 
denned, and it needs to be, for most teachers use it to cover 
all reasons for doing — it is for " discipline" they do every* 
thing. 

6. It discusses the motives to be used in teaching. 

Any one who can throw light here will be listened to ; Mr. 
Currie has done this admirably. He puts (1) Activity, (2) 
Love, (3) Social Relation, as the three main motives. Rewards 
and Punishments, Bribery, etc., are here well treated. The 
author was evidently a man " ahead of his times ;" every- 
where we see the spirit of a humane man ; he is a lover of 
children, a student of childhood, a deep thinker on subjects 
that seem very easy to the pretentious pedagogue. 

7. The book has an admirable introduction, 

By Supt. Meleney , of Paterson, N. J. , a disciple of the New 
Education, and one of the most promising of the new style of 
educators that are coming to the front in these days. Taking 
it all together, it is a volume that well deserves wonderful 
popularity. 

Adopted by the Chautauqua Teachers' Reading Union. 

Philadelphia Teacher.—" It is a volume that every primary teacher 
should study." 

Boston Common School Education.—' 4 It will prove a great boon to 
thousands of earnest teachers." 

Virginia Educational Journal.—' 4 Mr. Currie has long been esteemed 
by educators." 

Central School Journal.— " Books like this cannot but hasten the 
day for a better valuation of childhood." 

North Carolina School Teacher.— "An interesting and timely book." 



FOR READING CIRCLES. 

" Payne's Lectures " is pre-eininently the book for Reading 
Circles. It has already been adopted by the New York, Ohio, 
Philadelphia, New Jersey, Illinois, Colorado, and Chautauqua 
Circles, besides many in counties and cities. Remember that 
our edition is far superior to any other publislied. 



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Shaw's Rational Question Book. 

" The National Question Book." A graded course of study 
for those preparing to teach. By Edward R. Shaw, Prin- 
cipal of the High School, Yonkers, N. Y.; author of 
" School Devices," etc. Bound in durable English buckram 
cloth, with beautiful side-stamp. 12mo, 350 pp. Price, 
$1.50 ; net to teachers, postpaid. 

This work contains 6,000 Questions and Answers on 22 
Different Branches of Study. 

ITS DISTINGUISHING FEATURES. 

1. It aims to make the teacher a better teacher. 

"How to Make Teaching a Profession" has challenged the 
attention of the wisest teacher. It is plain that to accomplish 
this the teacher must pass from the stage of a knowledge of 
the rudiments, to the stage of somewhat extensive acquire- 
ment. There are steps in this movement ; if a teacher will 
take the first and see what the next is, he will probably go on 
to the next, and so on. One of the reasons why there has 
been no movement forward by those who have made this first 
step, is that there was nothing marked out as a second step. 

2. This book will show the teacher how to go forward. 

In the preface the course of 

study usually pursued in our 
best normal schools is given. 
This proposes four grades; 
third, second, first, and profes- 
sional. Then, questions are 
given appropriate for each of 
these grades. Answers follow 
each section. A teacher will 
use the book somewhat as fol- 
lows : — If he is in the third 
grade he will put the questions 
found in this book concerning 
numbers, geography, history, 
grammar, orthography, and 
theory and practice of teaching 
to himself and get out the 
answer. Having done this he 
will go on to the other grades 
in a similar manner. In this 
way he will know as to his fit- 
ness to pass an examination for 




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these grades. The selection of questions is a good one. 

3. It proposes questions concerning teaching itself. 

The need of studying the Art of Teaching is becoming more 
and more apparent. There are questions that will prove very- 
suggestive and valuable on the Theory and Practice of Educa- 
tion. 

4. It is a general review of the common school and higher 
studies. 

Each department of questions is followed by department of 
answers on same subject, each question being numbered, and 
answer having corresponding number. 

Arithmetic, 3d grade. 
Geography, 2d and 3d grade. 
U. S. History, 2d and 3d grade. 
Grammar, 1st, 2d, and 3d grade. 
Orthography and Orthoepy,3d grade. 
Theory and Practice of Teaching, 

1st, 2d, and 3d grade. 
Rhetoric and Composition, 2d grade. 
Physiology, 1st and 2d grade. 
Bookkeeping, 1st and 2d grade. 
Civil Government, 1st and 2d grade. 
Physical Geography, 1st grade. 

5. It is carefully graded into grades corresponding to those 
into which teachers are usually classed. 

It is important for a teacher to know what are appropriate 
questions to ask a third grade teacher, for example. Exam- 
iners of teachers, too, need to know what are appropriate 
questions. In fact, to put the examination of the teacher into 
a proper system is most important. 

6. Again, this book broadens the field, and will advance 
education. The second grade teacher, for example, is exam- 
ined in rhetoric and composition, physiology, book-keeping, 
and civil government, subjects usually omitted. The teacher 
who follows this book faithfully will become as near as possi- 
ble a normal school graduate. It is really a contribution to 
pedagogic progress. It points out to the teacher a road to 
professional fitness. 

7. It is a useful reference work for every teacher and priv- 
ate library. 

Every teacher needs a book to turn to for questions, for 
example, a history class. Time is precious ; he gives a pupil 
the book saying, " Write five of those questions on the black- 
board ; the class may bring in answers to-morrow." A book, 



English Literature, 1st grade. 

Natural Philosophy, " 

Algebra, professional grade. 

General History, profess, grade. 

Geometry, 

Latin, 

Zoology, 

Astronomy, 

Botany, 

Physics, 

Chemistry, 

Geology, 



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made on the broad principles this is, has numerous uses. 

8. Examiners of teachers will find it especially valuable. 
It represents the standard required in New York and the East 
generally for third, second, fir&t, and state diploma grades. 
It will tend to make a uniform standard throughout the 
United States. 

WHAT IS SAID OF IT. 

A Great Help.— "It seems to be well adapted to the purposes lor 
which it is prepared. It will undoubtedly be a great help to many 
teachers who are preparing to pass an examination."— E. A. Gastman, 
Supt. Schools, Decatur, HI. 

Very Suggestive.— " I consider it very suggestive. As a book for 
class-room use it can serve a very important object by this suggestive- 
ness, which is the peculiar quality of the book. Many of the questions 
suggest others to the teacher, and thus open her mind to new aspects of 
the book she is teaching. Such questions aid pupils in looking up mat- 
ter which they have previously acquired, and yet supply the charm of 
novelty."— B. C. Gregory, Secretary of N. J. Reading Circle. 

Helpful to Young Teachers.—" It will prove a helpful book to young 
teachers who wish to review the studies which it treats." — T. M. Bal- 
ljet, Supt. Schools, Springfield, Mass. 

Well Fitted for its Purpose.—" I find it well fitted for its purpose in 
testing the acquaintance of students with the principles that govern the 
several departments of science and their application to special cases. I 
can see how a teacher can make good use of this book in his classes."— 
D. L. Kiehle, Supt. of Public Instruction, St. Paul, Minn. 

Without a Peer.—" It is without a peer."— J. M. Greenwood, Supt. 
Schools, Kansas City, Mo. 

Best for its Price.—" It is the best book for its price that I ever pur- 
chased."— Miss Eva Quigley, teacher at La Porte, Cal. 

Best of the Kind.— " It is decidedly the best book of the kind I ever 
examined."— D. G. Williams, Ex-Co. Supt. York County, Pa. 

Will Furnish Valuable Ideas.— "It presents a larger variety than 
usual of solid questions. Will repay very largely all efforts put forth 
by examiners and examined, and lead to better work in the several 
branches. The questions have been carefully studied. They are the 
result of thoughtful experience, and will f urnisn valuable ideas." — Chas. 
Jacobus, Supt. Schools, New Brunswick, N. J. 

J. H. Hoose, Prin. of the Cortland (N. Y.) Normal School, says :— " It 
will be helpful to those persons who cannot enjoy an attendence upon 
courses of study in some good school." 

Hon. B. <x. Northrup, of Connecticut, says:— "It is at once concise 
and comprehensive, stimu ati g and instructive. These questions seem 
to show the young teacher what he d es not Know and ought to know, 
and facilitates the acquisition of the desired knowledge." 

School Education (Minn.) says:— "Many a young teacher of good 
mind, whose opportunities have been meagre, and who does not yet 
know how to study effectively in a scientific spirit, may be stimulated 
to look up points, and to genuine progress in self -improvement by such 
a book as this. The questions are systematically arranged, worded with 
judgment, and are accompanied by numerous analyses of various sub- 
jects." 



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The Journal of Education, (Boston) says;— "Its aim is to improve 
teachers to know and do better work through improvement. It is a 
good book to have on any teacher's desk — one that can be used quickly 
to help a teacher over any tight place. In an examination of several 
hundred questions we are impres^d with the correctness, clearness, and 
conciseness of the author." 

The Indiana School Journal, says :— " This is one of the best books of 
its class we have seen. It is carefully graded, and if properly used will 
be a valuable aid for teachers. Question Books, when used as an aid in 
reviews, in adding supplementary and test questions, are helpful and to 
be commended." 

Common School Education, says:— "Those who wish to advance in 
knowledge and ability will do well to possess the ' National Question 
Book.' " 

The Western School Journal, says:— 4fc The 'National Question Book' 
presents questions of common sense character, and answers them in 
such clear and concise terms as should distinguish the examination 
papers of our teachers and pupils. It is far ahead of anything of the 
kind we have yet seen." 

The Educational News, (Phila.) says:— "The 'National Question 
Book ' will prove a valuable help to teachers in preparing their ques- 
tions for either examination or review. The questions are judiciously 
selected and searching in their character. The book is prepared bv a 
progressive, practical teacher, and ought to meet with much favor." 

The National Educator (Pa.) says :— " Every teacher in the United 
States should have a copy of the book." 

The Educational Courant (Ky.) says :— " The book is an excellent one, 
and covers a wide range. For review the teachers and pupils will find 
it convenient, the former especially so." 

The Mich. School Moderator, says :— " The ' National Question Book • 
is more than a mere question and answer book. It seeks to guide to 
correct pedagogical principles." 

The School Herald (Chicago) says :— " This volume is really a contrib- 
ution to educational progress. It is a question book and a good deal 
more. It points out to the teacher a road to professional fitness. If 
the volume were a question book and nothing more, it would deserve 
well, for it has superior merits as a question book." 

The Journal of Education (La.) says :— " Is full of useful information, 
logically arranged, and the plan unfolded with good judgment. A 
course of study is proposed, such as is followed in our best normal 
schools." 

Canada School Journal, says:— "The proper use of these questions 
and answers will be of service to the student preparing to teach, and 
the teacher in his daily work. The questions seem well selected and the 
answers clear and explicit " 



AGENTS WANTED. 

Thousands of copies of this useful book have been sold by- 
agents in all parts of the country. One live teacher in 
Michigan has sold nearly 800 copies in five months. At our 
liberal terms, there need not be the slightest doubt of success. 
Write for terms and territory. 






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E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 9 

Taynes Lectures on the Science and 

Art of Education. Reading Circle Edition. By Joseph 
Payne, the first Professor of the Science and Art of Edu- 
cation in the College of Preceptors, London, England. 
With portrait. 16mo, 350 pp., English cloth, with gold 
back stamp. Price, $1.00 ; to teachers, 80 cents ; by mail, 
7 cents extra. Elegant new edition from new plates. 

Teachers who are seeking to 
know the principles of education 
will find them clearly set forth in 
this volume. It must be remem- 
bered that principles are the basis 
upon which all methods of teach- 
ing must be founded. So valu- 
able is this book that if a teacher 
were to decide to own but three 
works on education, this would 
be one of them. This edition 
contains all of Mr. Payne's writ- 
ings that are in any other Ameri- 
can abridged edition, and is the 
only one with his portrait. It is 
far superior to any other edition 
published. 
Toseph Payne. 

why this Edition is the best. 

(1.) The side-titles. These give the contents of the page. 
(2.) The analysis of each lecture, with reference to the educa- 
tional points in it. (3.) The general analysis pointing out the 
three great principles found at the beginning. (4.) The index, 
where, under such heads as Teaching, Education, The Child, 
the important utterances of Mr. Payne are set forth. (5.) 
Its handy shape, large type, fine paper, and press-work and 
tasteful binding. All of these features make this a most val- 
uable book. To obtain all these features in one edition, it 
was found necessary to get out this new edition. 

Ohio Educational Monthly.— "It does not deal with shadowy theories ; 
it is intensely; practical." 

Philadelphia Educational News.—" Ought to be in library of every 
progressive teacher." 

Educational Courant.— "To know how to teach, more if needed than 
a knowledge of the branches taught. This is especially vaniable." 

Pennsylvania Journal of Education.—" Will be of practical value to 
Normal Schools and Institutes." 




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10 E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 

West Virginia School Journal.— " Especially pleased with the appear- 
ance of this volume." 

Educational Courant.— " Deals with principles rather than methods." 
Albany Evening Journal.— "Teachers who are seeking the principles 
of education will tind them set forth here." 

American Journal of Education.—' 4 Ought to be read by the school 
officers of every district." 

Philadelphia Teacher.—" By following which the teacher may become 
successful." 

Supt. J. M. Greenwood, Kansas City.-'* I regard Payne as the 
Horace Mann of England. I wish 200,000 copies could be put into the 
hands of teachers." 

Col. F. W. Parker.—" One of the books I recommend all my pupils to 
buy, read, and study. I use it in my Professional Training Class as a 
text-book." — 

W. W. Speer, Cook Co. Normal School. 111.— "I was instrumental in 
distributing several hundred of these lectures while Supt. of Mar- 
shall, County, Iowa. 

A. J. Bickoff, Late Supt. of Yonkers Schools,— " These lectures 
squarely advocate the best and most advanced doctrines of education. 
You have placed the teachers under obligation by publishing them. M 

Jas. McAllister, Supt. Philadelphia Public Schools.—" I consider it 
as one of the most valuable books on education." 

D. L. Keihle, Sunt, of Schools, Minnesota.—" One of the best books 
on the Science of Education." 

Tennessee Journal of Education.—" This firm is doing a grand thing 
in publishing this book." 

Canada Educational Monthly.—" No teacher who aims to be pro- 
gressive should fail to master its contents. " 

Normal Advocate.—" Should be in the hands of every one who pre- 
sumes to aid in shaping an immortal mind." 

Philadelphia Ledger.—" A volume worth its weight in certificates to 
any teacher." 

Boston Journal of Education.—" Mr. Payne ranks among the best 
educators of modern times and the work should be in the library of 
every teacher.'' 

Boston Advertiser.—" Those who would Eke to see a change in our 
mechanical method, will welcome this book." 

Springfield Bepublican.— " Will prove a valuable addition to the 
library of progressive teachers." 

Independent.—" The new method is more clearly stated in this volume 
than in any other volume of equal compass." 



FOR READING CIRCLES. 

" Payne's Lectures " is pre-eminently the book for Reading 
Circles. It has already been adopted by the New York, Ohio, 
Philadelphia, New Jersey, Illinois, Colorado, and Chautauqua 
Circles, besides many in counties and cities. Remember that 
our edition is far superior to any other published. 



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E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 11 

Shaw and IDonneU's School ^Devices. 

" School Devices." A book of ways and suggestions for 
teachers. By Edward E. Shaw and Webb Donnell, of the 
High School at Yonkers, N. Y. Illustrated. Dark-blue 
cloth binding, gold, 16mo, 224 pp. Price, $1.25 ; to teach- 
ers, $1.00 ; by mail, 9 cents extra. 
t^A BOOK OF "WAYS" FOR TEACHERS.^ 
Teaching is an art ; there are " ways to do it." This book 
is made to point out " ways," and to help by suggestions. 

1. It gives " ways " for teaching Language, Grammar, Head- 
ing, Spelling, Geography, etc. These are in many cases 
novel ; they are designed to help attract the attention of the 
pupil. 

2. The " ways " given are not the questionable " ways " so 
often seen practiced in school-rooms, but are in accord with 
the spirit of modern educational ideas. 

3. This book will afford practical assistance to teachers who 
wish to keep their work from degenerating into mere routine. 
It gives them, in convenient form for constant use at the 
desk, a multitude of new ways in which to present old truths. 
The great enemy of the teacher is want of interest. Their 
methods do not attract attention. There is no teaching 
unless there is attention. The teacher is too apt to think 
there is but one " way" of teaching spelling ; he thus falls 
into a rut. Now there are many " ways " of teaching spell- 
ing, and some " ways " are better than others. Variety must 
exist in the school-room ; the authors of this volume deserve 
the thanks of the teachers for pointing out methods of obtain- 
ing variety without sacrificing the great end sought — scholar- 
ship. New "ways" induce greater effort, and renewal of 
activity*. 

4. The book gives the result of large actual experience in 
the school-room, and will meet the needs of thousands of 
teachers, by placing at their command that for which visits 
to other schools are made, institutes and associations 
attended, viz., new ideas and fresh and forceful ways of 
teaching. The devices given under Drawing and Physiology 
are of an eminently practical nature, and cannot fail to 
invest these subjects with new interest. The attempt has 
been made to present only devices of a practical character. 

5. The book suggests " ways " to make teaching effective ; it 
is not simply a book of new " ways," but of " ways " that will 
produce good results. 



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12 E. L. KELLOGG <$c CO., NEW YORK <St CHICAGO. 

WHAT IT CONTAINS. 
41 Ways " of teaching Language— Geography— Spelling— Heading- 
Arithmetic — History — Physiology — Drawing— Penmanship— Personal 
Suggestions— School-Room Suggestions— Outside the School-Room— 
Seat Work. The first chapter on Language contains : A Way to Prepare 
Pictures for Young Pupils— Supplying the Proper Word— A Language 
Lesson— Weekly Plan of Language Work for Lower Grammar Grades- 
Writing Ordinals— Correcting Bad English— For Beginners in Composi- 
tion—Word Developing— An Easy Exercise in Composition— Composi- 
tion from Pictures— Plan for Oral Composition— Debating Exercises- 
Language Drill in every Lesson— Letter Writing— Matter for Letters— 
Forms for Business Letters— Papers Written from Recitation Notes- 
Equivalent Forms of Expression— Devices for Uee of Capitals— Excerpts 
to Write Out from Memory— Regular Plan in Composition Writing—To 
Exercise the Imagination— Suggestions about Local Subjects for Com- 

Sositions— A Letter Written upon the Blackboard by airThe Class— 
hoice of Words— Order of Criticism— A Plan for Rapid Correction of 
Compositions— To File and Hold Essays— Assigning a Subject for a Com- 
position—Character Sketches— Illustrative Syntax— A Talk on Language 
—A Grammar Lesson, Device for Building up the Conjugation of the 
Verb— The Infinitive Mood— Shall and Will— Matter for a Talk on Words 
—Surnames. 

At the end of the volume is inserted a careful selection of Bible Read- 
ings for every school day of the year, with the pronunciation of diffi- 
cult words— a provision that will be appreciated by those who are 
obliged to hunt each morning for a proper selectidfa for school devo- 
tions. 

Mr. E. R. Shaw, of the Yonkers High School, is well 
known, and Mr. Webb Donnell, of the East Machias (Me.) 
Academy, is a teacher of fine promise ; they have put together 
a great variety of suggestions that cannot fail to be of real 
service. 

Home and School.— 11 Is just the book for every teacher who wishes 
to be a better teacher." 
Educational Journal.— 14 It contains many valuable hints." 

Boston Journal of Education.— " It is the most humane, instructive, 
original educational work we have read in many a day." 

Wis. Journal of Education.—" Commends itself at once by the num- 
ber of ingenious devices for securing order, industry, and interest." 

Iowa Central School Journal.— 44 Teachers will find it a helpful and 
suggestive book." 

Canada Educational Monthly.— 44 Valuable advice and useful sugges- 
tions." 

Normal Teacher.— 44 The author believes the way to manage is to civ- 
ilize, cultivate, and refine." 

School Moderator.— " Contains a large amount of valuabie reading. 

School government is admirably presented." 
Progressive Teacher.— 44 Should occupy an honored place in eveiy 

teacher's library." 
Ed. Courant.— 44 It will help the teacher greatly." 
Va. Ed. Journal.— 44 The author draws from a large experience." 
Country and Village Schools.— " Cannot fail to be serviceable." 






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E. L. KELLOGG & CO,, NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 13 

Parkers Talks on Teaching. 

Notes of "Talks on Teaching" given by Col. Francis W. 
Parker (formerly Superintendent of schools of Quincy, 
Mass.), before the Martha's Vineyard Institute, Summer 
of 1882. Reported by Lelia E. Patridge. Square 16mo, 
5x6 1-2 inches, 192 pp., laid paper, English cloth. Price, 
$1.25 ; to teachers, $1.00 ; by mail, 9 cents extra. 
The methods of teaching employed in the schools of Quincy, 
Mass. , were seen to be the methods of nature. As they were 
copied and explained, they awoke a great desire on the part 
of those who could not visit the schools to know the underly- 
ing principles. In other words, Colonel Parker was asked to 
explain why he had his teachers teach thus. In the summer 
of 1882, in response to requests, Colonel Parker gave a course 
of lectures before the Martha's Vineyard Institute, and these 
were reported by Miss Patridge, and published in this book. 

The book became famous ; 
more copies were sold of it in 
the same time than of any 
other educational book what- 
ever. The daily papers, which 
usually pass by such books 
with a mere mention, devoted 
columns to reviews of it. 

The following points will 
show why the teacher will 
want this book. 

1. It explains the " New 
Methods." There is a wide 
gulf between the new and the 
old education. Even school 
boards understand this. 

2. It gives the underlying 
principles of education. For it 

must be remembered that Col. Parker is not expounding his 
methods, but the methods of nature. 

| 3. It gives the ideas of a man who is evidently an " educa- 
tional genius," a man born to understand and expound educa- 
tion. We have few such ; they are worth everything to the 
human race. 

4. It gives a biography of Col. Parker. This will help the 
teacher of education to comprehend the man and his motives. 

5. It has been adopted by nearly every State Reading Circle. 




SEND ALL, ORDERS TO 

14 E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 

The Indiana State Reading Circle alone have ordered 1500 
copies. Besides this, many County Reading Circles have 
adopted it. 

6. The new methods placed " the Quincy schools from 
twelve to twenty-five per cent, above the average of the towns 
in the same county. " (This county is Norfolk — the one that 
Boston is in.) This is the statement of George A. Walton, of 
the Massachusetts Board of Education. 

7. The Quincy methods (according to Mr. George A. Wal- 
ton) are adopted wherever they are known, and where the 
teachers have the skill and permission to employ them. 

8. This book has created more interest in Europe Jbhan any 
other A merican book on education. 

Normal Teacher. (Ind.)— " Probably no volume will attract the atten- 
tion of the teachers of this country so much as this." 

Journal of Education (Va.)— " No teacher can read it without receiv- 
ing fresh ideas." 

The New England Journal of Education (July 12, '83), published 
a page criticism by Prof. Payne. When this met the eye of Rev. A. D. 
Moves, one of the editors, he wrote two pages of fervid approval and 
that influential paper became the friend of the New Education. " We 
recommend the book to every teacher." 

New York Teachers* Companion.— " The Colonel is a warrior; his 
battle cry is freedom of the teachers from ruts, rust, routine, and 
servile imitation." 

Philadelphia Teacher.— 4 * His greatness consists in his courageous 
application of the truth." 

Chicago Advance.—* 4 They (the 4 talks ') will be very helpful to 
teachers." 

Chicago Evening Journal.— 44 They constitute the best, most compre- 
hensive, and authoritative presentation of the Quincy schools." 

Chicago Daily News.— 44 Valuable materials for thought and study." 

Burlington Hawkeye.— 44 Wo are pleased with the common sense 
and reasonableness of any principle laid down and methods recom- 
mended." 

Boston Commonwealth.— 44 Are of interest to all teachers." 

Troy Times.— 44 They are hints on which the intelligence of the teacher 
is left free to act." 

New York Tribune.— " Suggestive to instructors. The clear direc- 
tions for following the methods so brilliantly inaugurated at Quincy 
will be of interest to all students of pedagogy." 

Philadelphia Ledger.— 44 Francis W . Parker holds what in some re- 
gards, is even a higher place than that of the Chief Executive, the great- 
est teacher and organizer of the common schools that this country now 
possesses." (From a long review.) 

Philadelphia Itecord.— ''His talk is informal by knowledge; and his 
knowledge is booked by experience." 

The Moderator. 'Michigan.)— In spite of all that has been published 
they constitute the best presentation of the Quincy method. 1 ' 



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E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 15 

Evening Post. (N. Y.)— u He has done more than any one in this 
country hitherto, to make it impossible for the teachers of the future 
to succeed without studying carefully and well the minds and hearts of 
the children." (From a long review.) 

Detroit Free Press.— 14 What the system (Quincy) is would take more 
space to tell than we have to spare, but the educator will find it out- 
lined here." 

National Tribune (Washington, D.C.)— " We cannot too highly recom- 
mend the lucidity with which he sets forth the principles of the New 
Education." 

Indianapolis School Journal.— " There is much that is good put in a 
new way. 1 

Prest. Thos. Hunter, N. Y. City Normal College, says :— " I consider it 
an invaluable addition to the literary pedagogue ; he has given expres- 
sion to the best thoughts of the best educators of all times and all coun- 
tries, and stamped these with the impress of his own originality." 

Prest. David H. Cochran, Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn, says:— " I 
find them full of most valuable suggestions." 

Prof. John Kennedy, N. Y. State Conductor of Institutes, says :— * 4 1 
find the work as I anticipated, running over with sound philosophy and 
stimulating suggestions." 

Prof. F. P. Lantry, N. Y. State Conductor of Institutes, says :— "Full 
of sensible and practical suggestions." 

City Supt. E. V. DeGraff, Paterson, N. J., May, '83, says :— " He has 
done more than any other man to exemplify and explain elementary 
teaching." 

Asst. Supt. Thos. F. Harrison, N. Y. City, says :— "Its plain and forci- 
ble statement of sound principles and common sense methods must 
greatly assist to the adoption of much-needed reforms in elementary 
education." 

Asst. Supt. N. A. Calkins, N. Y. City, says:— " He invites to a careful 
study of the child as the means of learning how to teach." 

Prest. Jerome Allen, Minn. State Normal School, May, '83, says:— 
" Col. Parker's * Talks on Teaching ' should be in the hands of every 
teacher ; its publication marks a most important era." 

Prest. E. A. Sheldon, Oswego State Normal School, says :— "They can 
but be very suggestive and helpful." 

City Supt. Edwin P. Seaver, Boston, Mass., says :— " The book is very 
interesting, and full of its author's well-known enthusiasm." 

City Supt. Henry A. Wise, Baltimore, says :— "It is full of valuable 
suggestions ; I strongly recommend it." 

City Supt. John B Peaslee, Cincinnati, says:— "The work is full of 
suggestive ideas." 

City Supt. George Howland. Chicago, says :— "Parker is doing » sood 
work." 

State Supt. D. L. Keihle, St. Paul, says :— " I shall do all I can to make 
our teachers acquainted with it." 

State Supt. T. H. Paine, Nashville, says :— "I commend it to all teach- 
ers who wish to advance in the art ol teaching." 

Principal J. W. Barker, Buffalo, says :— " A leading characteristic is 
its naturalness." 

Prest. B. F. Shaub, Millersville, Pa., Normal School, says:— "I am 
confident his book will help any one who reads it." 



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16 E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 

'Patridge s " Quincy {Methods? 

The " Quincy Methods," illustrated ; Pen photographs from 
the Quincy schools. By Lelia E. Patridge. Illustrated 
with a number of engravings, and two colored plates. 
Blue cloth, gilt, 12mo, 686 pp. Price, $1.75 ; to teachers, 
$1.40 ; by mail, 13 cents extra. 
When the schools of Quincy, Mass., became so famous 
under the superintendence of Col. Francis W. Parker, thou- 
sands of teachers visited them. Quincy became a sort of 
" educational Mecca," to the disgust of the routinists, whose 
schools were passed by. Those who went to study the 
methods pursued there were called on to tell what they had 
seen. Miss Patridge was one of those who visited the schools 
of Quincy ; in the Pennsylvania Institutes (many of which 
she conducted), she found the teachers were never tired of 
being told how things were done in Quincy. She revisited 
the schools several times, and wrote down what she saw ; then 
the book was made. 

1. This book presents the actual practice in the schools of 
Quincy. It is composed of " pen photographs." 

2. It gives abundant reasons for the great stir produced by 
the two words " Quincy Methods." There are reasons for the 
discussion that has been going on among the teachers of late 
years. 

3. It gives an insight to principles underlying real educa- 
tion as distinguished from book learning. 

4. It shows the teacher not only what to do, but gives the 
way in which to do it. 

5. It impresses one with the spirit of the Quincy schools. 

6. It shows the teacher how to create an atmosphere of hap- 
piness, of busy work, and of progress. 

7. It shows the teacher how not to waste her time in worry- 
ing over disorder. 

8. It tells how to treat pupils with courtesy, and get cour- 
tesy back again. 

9. It presents four years of work, considering Number, 
Color, Direction, Dimension, Botany, Minerals, Form, Lan- 
guage, Writing, Pictures, Modelling, Drawing, Singing, 
Geography, Zoology, etc. , etc. 

10. There are 686 pages; a large book devoted to the realities 
of school life, in realistic descriptive language. It is plain, 
real, not abstruse and uninteresting. 

11. It gives an insight into real education, the education 
urged by Pestalozzi, Froebel, Mann, Page, Parker, etc. 



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E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 17 

12. It exemplifies the teachings of Col. F. W. Parker in the 
" Talks on Teaching." It must be remembered that the 
" Talks" were from the notes taken by Miss Patridge, the 
author of this book. To understand what the teaching is that 
Col. Parker would have in the schools, one must read this 
book, or attend his school at Normal Park, 111. 

Pa. School Journal :— " The book will be of historical significance." 
N. Y. School Bulletin :— "Should be one of the first dozen books in the 
teacher's library." Boston Journal of Education :— " Affords a clear 
insight into the methods and work at Quincy." Iowa Teacher :— " The 
best of it is that the underlying principles are explained." Chicago 
Practical Teacher :— "Miss tatridge has done her work thoroughly and 
well." N. C. Teacher :— " The story of the Quincy method is well told." 
La. School Journal :— " The work ought to be in every public school 
library." Chicago Intelligence :— " It is really a manual for the prim- 
ary teacher." Teachers' Quarterly :—" Beautifully told in this vol- 
ume." Cincinnati School Journal :— " The book explains the underly- 
ing principles." S. W. Journal of Education :— "Miss Patridge has done 
the work excellently well." Indiana School Bulletin :— " Pull of good 
suggestions." Pa. Teacher :— " No teacher can read it without receiv- 
ing ideas and helpful suggestions." Pa. School Journal :— " This book 
has a mission." Nat. (Pa.) Educator :—" Every progressive teacher will 
get more benefit from it than from any other published." Our County 
and Village Schools :— " Reading this volume will produce a revolu- 
tion." Ed. Courant :— " Has the power, fervor, and style of Parker." 
Wis. Journal of Education :— "By far the most complete manual of the 
'New Education." 111. School Journal:— "It is without question the 
fullest, richest, and most suggestive volume for grade teachers, and 
also for superintendents, that it has been our portion to examine." 
Normal Exponent :— " Every teacher should read it." W. Va. School 
Journal :— " It is a fountain from which new and refreshing draughts 
may be drawn." Philadelphia Teacher :—" Abounds with hints; will 
prove a precious guide." Chicago Advance :— " In the presence of such 
a book we pause with reverence." School Education :—" Is a very 
desirable book." Phrenological Journal:— "It is the application of 
principles." Christian Advocate :—" Well worth the perusual of 
teachers." Texas School Journal :— " No primary teacher can afford to 
do without this work." Springfield Republican :— " The earnest teach- 
er will find it helpful." Quebec Ed. Record :— " Pleased that it is on the 
list of books for teachers." The Critic :— " Gives a helpful insight into 
the theory of Education." Interior :— " Well worthy of study." Inter- 
ocean :— " One of the books that should be found in every teacher's 
desk." Detroit Free Press:— Will take a high place in educational 
literature." S. S. Times :—" First and best for the Sunday school 
teacher is Quincy Methods." 



8END Alili ORDERS TO 

18 E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 

Tate's Vhilosophy of Education. 

The Philosophy of Education. By T. Tate. Revised and 
Annotated by E. E. Sheib, Ph.D., Principal of the Louis- 
iana State Normal School. Unique cloth binding, laid 
paper, 831 pp. Price, $1.50 ; to teachers, $1.20 ; by mail, 7 
cents extra. 
There are few books that deal with the Science of Educa- 
tion. This volume is the work of a man who said there were 
great principles at the bottom of the work of the despised 
schoolmaster. It has set many a teacher to thinking, and in 
its new form will set many more. — 

Our edition will be found far superior to any other in every 
respect. The annotations of Mr. Sheib are invaluable. The 
more important part of the book are emphasized by leading 
the type. The type is clear, the size convenient, and print- 
ing, paper, and binding are most excellent. 

Mr. Philbrick so long superintendent of the Boston schools hold this 
work in high esteem. 

Col. F. W. Parker strongly recommends it. 

Jos. MacAlister, Supt. Public Schools, Philadelphia, says :— " It is one 
of the first books which a teacher deserves of understanding the scien- 
tific principles on which his work rests should study." 

S. A. Ellis, Supt. of Schools, Rochester N. Y. says :— " As a pointed and 
judicious statement of principles it has no superior.'* 

Thos. M. Balliet, Supt. of Schools* Reading. Pa., says :— " The work 
is a classic on Education." 

J. M. Greenwood, Supt. Schools, Kansas City, says :—" I wish every 
teacher of our country owned a copy and would read it carefully and 
thoughtfully." 

Prest. E. A. Sheldon, Oswego Normal Schools, says :— " For more 
than 20 years it has been our text-book in this subject and I know of no 
other book so good for the purpose." 

Bridgeport Standard.— 1 ' A new generation of thinkers will welcome 
it ; it has long held the first place in the field of labor which it illus- 
trates." 

S. W» Journal of Education.—" It deals with fundamental principles 
and shows how the best educational practice comes from them." 

The Interior.—" The book has long been held in high esteem by 
thoughtful teachers." 

Popular Educator.—" Has long held a high place among educational 
works." 

Illinois School Journal.—" It abounds in good things." 

Philadelphia Becord — " Has been ranked among educational classics 
for more than a quarter of a century." 

Educational News.—" Tate was the first to give us the maxims from 
the l known to the unknown ' etc." 



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E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 19 



Fitch's Lectures on Teaching. 

Lectures on Teaching. By J. G. Fitch, M.A., one of Her 
Majesty's Inspectors of Schools. England. Cloth, 16mo, 
395 pp. Price, $1.25 ; to teachers, $1.00 ; by mail, postpaid. 

Mr. Fitch takes as his topic the application of principles to 
the art of teaching in schools. Here are no* vague and gen- 
eral propositions, but on every page we find the problems of 
the school-room discussed with definiteness of mental grip. 
No one who has read a single lecture by this eminent man 
but will desire to read another. The book is full of sugges- 
tions that lead to increased power. 

1. These lectures are highly prized in England. 

2. There is a valuable preface by Thos. Hunter, President 
of N. Y. City Normal College. 

3. The volume has been at once adopted by several State 
Reading Circles. 

EXTRACT FROM AMERICAN PREFACE. 
u Teachers everywhere among English-speaking people have hailed 
Mr. Fitch's work as an invaluable aid for almost every kind of instruc- 
tion and school organization. It combines the theoretical and the prac- 
tical ; it is based on psychology ; it gives admirable advice on every- 
thing connected with teaching— from the furnishing of a school-room 
to the preparation of questions for examination. Its style is singularly 
clear, vigorous and harmonious." 

Chicago Intelligence.— " All of its discussions are based on sound 
psychological principles and give admirable advice." 

Virginia Educational Journal.— " He tells what he thinks so as to 
be helpful to all who are striving to improve." 

Lynn Evening Item.— " He gives admirable advice." 

Philadelphia Record.—" It is not easy to imagine a more useful vol- 
ume." 

Wilmington Every Evening.—' 4 The teacher will find in it a wealth 
of help and suggestion." 

Brooklyn Journal.— 4 ' His conception of the teacher is a worthy ideal 
for all to bear in mind." 

New England Journal of Education : 44 This is eminently the work of 
a man of wisdom and experience. He takes a broad and comprehensive 
view of the work of the teacher, and his suggestions on all topics are 
worthy of the most careful consideration." 

Brooklyn Eagle: "An invaluable aid for almost every kind of in- 
struction and school organization. It combines the theoretical and the 
practical ; it is based on psychology ; it gives admirable advice on every- 
thing connected with teaching, from the furnishing of a school-room to 
the preparation of questions for examination." 

Toledo Blade : 44 It is safe to say, no teacher can lay claim to being 
well informed who has not read this admirable work. Its appreciation 
is shown by its adoption by several State Teachers' Reading Circles, as 
a work to be thoroughly read by its members." 



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The Practical Teacher . 

Writings of Francis W. Parker, Principal of Cook Co. 
Normal School, 111., and other educators, among whicfc is 
Joseph Payne's Visit to German Schools, etc. 188 large 
8vo pages, 7^x10^ inches. Cloth. Price, $1.50; to 
teachers, $1.20 ; by mail, 14 cents extra. New edition in 
paper cover. Price, 75 cents ; to teachers, 60 cents ; by 
mail, 8 cents extra. 

These articles contain many things that the readers of the 
" Talks on Teaching" desired light upon. The space occupied 
enabled Col. Parker to state himself at the length needed for 
clearness. There is really here, from his pen (taking out the 
writings of others) a volume of 830 pages, each page about the 
size of those in " Talks on Teaching. " 

1. The writings in this volume are mainly those of Col. F. 
W. Parker, Principal of the Cook County Normal School. 

2. Like the " Talks on Teaching " so famous, they deal with 
the principles and practice of teaching. 

3. Those who own the " Talks " will want the further ideas 
from Col. Parker. 

4. There are many things in this volume written in reply to 
inquiries suggested in " Talks." 

5. There is here really 750 pages of the size of those in 
" Talks." " Talks " seUs for $1.00. This for $1.20 and 14 cents 
for postage. 

6. Minute suggestions are made pertaining to Reading, 
Questions, Geography, Numbers, History, Psychology, Peda- 
gogics, Clay Modeling, Form, Color, etc. 

7. Joseph Payne's visit to the German schools is given in 
full ; everything from his pen is valuable. 

8. The whole book has the breeze that is blowing from the 
New Education ideas ; it is filled with Col. Parker's spirit. 

PARTIAL LIST OF CONTENTS- 

Beginnings. Reading— laws and principles ; Ruling Slates ; Number 
and Arithmetic; Geography; Moulding; History; Psychology; Peda- 
gogics; Examinations; Elocution; Questioning on Pictures; on Flow- 
ers ; on Leaves ; Rules in Language : Answers to questions respecting 
the Spelling-Book ; List of Children's Books on History ; The Child's 
Voice; Ideas before Words; Description of Pictures; Teaching of 1; 
of 2; of 3; of 4; etc. ; Form and Color; Breathing Exercises; Paper 
Folding ; V erbatim report of lessons given in Cook Co. Normal School. 
Busy Work ; Answers to Questions in Arithmetic, etc. ; Why teachers 
drag out a monotonous existence : Teaching of language to children ; 
Supplementary Reading— list of books ; Structural Geography ; Letters 
from Germany ; Hand and Eye Training ; Clay Modeling ; List of Edu- 
cational Works ; Joseph Payne's visit to German Schools, etc., etc. 







QgRABfy; 



•NO-l- 



7AIND5TUDIE? 

-FOR 

p VbUNG TEACHERS 

i By 

!jEROAVE*ALLENPHD^ 



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E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 21 

The Reading Circle Library. 

No. 1 . Allen's Mind Studies for Young Teachers 

By Jerome Allen, Ph.D., 
Associate Editor of the 
School Journal, formerly 
President of the St. Cloud 
( Minn. ) Normal School. 
16mo, large, clear type, 
128 pp. paper cover. Price, 
30 cents ; to teachers, 24 
cents ; by mail, 3 cents 
extra. Limp cloth, 50 
cents; to teachers, 40 cents; 
by mail, 5 cents extra. 
Special rates for quanti- 
ties. Fourth thousand now 
ready. 

This little volume attempts 
to open the subject of Psychol- 
ogy in a plain way, omitting 
what is abstruse and difficult. 
It is written in language easily 
comprehended, and has prac- 
tical illustrations. It will be wanted by teachers. 

1. Some knowledge of Mental Science is indispensible to the 
teacher. He is dealing with Perception, Attention, Judg- 
ment. He ought to know what these mean. 

2. The relation between Teaching and Mind Growth is 
pointed out ; it is not a dry treatise on Psychology. 

3. It is a work that will aid the teacher in his daily work in 
dealing with mental facts and states. 

Popular Educator.— 14 The teacher will find in it much information as 
well as incitement to thought." 

Jared Sanford, School Com., Mt. Vernon, N. T.— " From all points of 
view it must prove of great worth to those who read it. To the earnest 
teacher in search of information concerning the principles of Psychol- 
ogy it is to be highly commended." 

Irwin Shepard, Pres. Normal School, Winona, Minn.— " I am much 
pleased with it. It certainly fills a want. Most teachers need a smaller 
briefer, and more convenient Manual than has before been issued." 

S. G. Love, Supt. School, N. Y.— kl I want to say of it that it is an 
excellent little book. Invaluable for building up the jfo'ung teacher 
in that kind of knowledge indispensable to successful teaching to-day." 

Prof. Edward Brooks.—" The work will be very useful to young 
teachers." 



L KELLOGG- ^CO 
NEWyoRKfr-CHlCACO 



B 




22 TALKS ON PSYCHOLOGY, 

shall follow. I thus decide which of the three desires 
shall become the prevailing motive. 

The Will, the Mind's Propelling Power.— The will is, 
moreover, the mind's propelling power. Not only does 
the will decide upon the line of action which the mind 
shall pursue, but it directs, controls, and impels to its 
allotted purpose, every faculty employed therein. The 
ball-player decides to engage in the game by an act of 
the will, and it is the will that directs and impels every 
motion of his hand and eye and muscle which the game 
calls into exercise. In all the processes of earnest think- 
ing, the will takes command of every intellectual faculty 
engaged therein, and directs it strenuously and per- 
sistently to its proper object. The words decision, en- 
deavor, exertion, effort, aresynonymes which express the 
impulses of the will. Education and culture are the final 
products of sustained and oft-repeated voluntary efforts. 

The Spontaneities. — Any mental movement or act 
which takes place without effort of the will, is called a 
spontaneity, or a spontaneous action ot any faculty. 
The spontaneous action of any faculty is, in every case, 
occasioned by the presence of its object only. If, when 
my eyes are open, an object, say a flying bird, crosses 
the line of vision, I see it without an effort of the will. 
The act of vision which recognizes the bird is, for an 
instant, a spontaneity, but the will immediately inter- 
venes and impels the faculty of sight to further inspec- 
tion. Here we have, in regular succession, first, the 
presence of the object of vision; secondly, the spontaneous 
or involuntary act of vision; and, thirdly, the impulse 
of the will which changes the instantaneous, involuntary 



THE WILL AND TLIE SPONTANEITLES. 23 



act to a prolonged voluntary one. Both acts are 
expended on the same object. 

Again, if an audible sound, say the music of a flute, 
strikes the ear, the initial act of hearing it awakens, is 
spontaneous. The effort of listening which immediately 
follows this spontaneity, is an act of the will which holds 
the faculty of hearing strictly upon its object. In this 
instance we have: 

1. The object presented to the ear. 

2. The spontaneity awakened thereby. 

3. The effort of will which transforms the spontaneity 
into an act of listening. 

Again, if any sapid substance, say the pulp of a 
lemon, is brought into contact with the tongue, the 
sensation that follows is spontaneous. The will may 
prompt the mind to scrutinize this sensation and its 
cause, but the taste we feel is, in itself, wholly involun- 
tary. The sensations of touch and smell are likewise in- 
voluntary. In fact, if we scrutinize the entire range of 
the mental activities of which the mind is capable, we 
shall find that the action of every faculty begins with a 
spontaneity, producing what is called an act of attention. 
Thus the object and the resulting spontaneity uniformly 
precede any effort of the will. Moreover, the more 
attractive the object presented, the more vigorous and 
complete is the spontaneity that follows, and the more 
earnest and continuous is the effort of the will that is 
incited thereby. 

Spontaneity in Education. — It thus becomes evident 
that, in juvenile education, the true method consists in 
presenting to the senses of the child, objects of such 



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24 E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 

No. 4. Hughes' Securing and Retaining Atten- 
tion. 

By James L. Hughes, Inspector Schools, Toronto, Canada. 
Author of Mistakes in Teaching. Cloth, 116 pp. Price, 
50 cents ; to teachers, 40 cents ; by mail, 5 cents extra. 

This valuable little book has already become widely known 
to American teachers. This new edition has been almost 
entirely re-written and several new important chapters 
added. It is the only edition authorized by the author. The 
testimonials to the old edition are more than deserved for the 
new one. 

Educational Times. England.— " On an important subject, and 
admirably executed." 

School Guardian. England.— 44 We unhesitatingly recommend it." 

New England Journal of Education.— 44 The book is a guide and a 
manual of special value." 

New York School Journal.— 44 Every teacher would derive benefit 
from reading this volume." 

Chicago Educational Weekly.— 44 The teacher who aims at best suc- 
cess should study it." 

Phil. Teacher.— 44 Many who have spent months in the school-room 
would be benefitted by it." 

Maryland School Journal.— 44 Always clear, never tedious." 

Va. Ed. Journal.— 44 Excellent hints as to securing attention." 

Ohio Educational Monthly.— 44 We advise readers to send for a copy." 

Pacific Home and School Journal.— 44 An excellent little manual." 

Prest. James H. Hoose, State Normal School, Cortland, N. Y., says :— 

"The book must prove of great benefit to the profession." 
Supt. A.W. Edson, Jersey, City, N. J., says:— 44 A good treatise has 

long been needed, and Mr. Hughes has supplied the want." 

No. 5. The Student's Calendar. 

For 1888. Compiled by N. O. Wilhelm. Elegant design 
on heavy cardboard, 9x11 inches, printed in gold and 
color. Price, 60 cts. ; to teachers, 48 cents. ; by mail, 8 cts. 
In book form, for any year, paper cover. Price, 30 cts. ; 
to teachers, 24 cts. ; by mail, 3 cts. extra. 

This beautiful, novel, and useful calendar is designed to 
assist teachers in preparing exercises for Memorial Days, 
and also to suggest topics for " talks," compositions, etc. The 
idea is entirely new. Opposite each elate is a very short life 
of some great man who was born or died on that day. The 
design is superb, and printing, etc., tasteful and elegant, 
making it an ornament for any room. 



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K L. KELLOGG <fc CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 25 

Teachers' Manuals Series. 

Each is printed in large, 
clear type, on good paper. 
Paper cover, price 15 
cents ; to teachers, 12 
cents ; by mail 1 cent ex- 
tra. Liberal discount in 
quantities. 
There is a need of small 
volumes — "Educational 
tracts," that teachers can 
carry easily and study as they 
have opportunity. The fol- 
lowing six have been already 
selected. Every one is a gem. 
To call them the " Education- 
al Gem" series would be 
more appropriate. 

It should be noted that 
while our editions of these 
little books are as low in 
price as any other, the side 
heads, topics and analyses 
inserted by the editors, as well as the excellent paper and 
printing, make them far superior in every way to any other. 

No. 1. FITCH'S ART OF QUESTIONING. 

By J. G. Fitch, M. A., author of "Lectures on Teaching." 38 pp. 

Already widely known as the most useful and practical essay on 
this most important part of the teachers' lesson-hearing. 
No. 2. FITCH'S ART OF SECURING ATTENTION. 

By J. G. Fitch, M. A., 39 pp. 

Of no less value than the author's "Art of Questioning." 
No. 3. SIDGWICK'S ON STIMULUS IN SCHOOL. 

By Arthur Sidgwick, M. A. 43 pp. 

M How can that dull, lazy scholar be pressed on to work up his lessons 
with a will." This bright essay will tell how it can be done. 
No. 4. YONGE'S PRACTICAL WORK IN SCHOOL. 

By Charlotte M. Yonge, author of " Heir of Redclyffe." 35 pp. 

All who have read Miss Yonge' s books will be glad to read of her 
views on School Work. 

No. 5. FITCH'S IMPROVEMENT IN THE ART OF TEACHING. 

By J. G. Fitch, M. A. 25 pp. 

This thoughtful, earnest essay will bring courage and help to many 
a teacher who is struggling to do better work. It includes a course of 
study for Teachers' Training Classes. 
No. 6. GLADSTONE'S OBJECT TEACHING. 

By J. H. Gladstone, of the London <Eng.) School Board. 25 pp. 

A short manual full of practical suggestions on Object Teaching. 




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26 E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 

Kelbggs School ^Management : 

" A Practical Guide for the Teacher in the School-Room." 

By Amos M. Kellogg, A.M. Sixth edition. Revised and 

enlarged. Cloth, 128 pp. Price, 75 cents ; to teachers, 60 

cents ; by mail, 5 cents extra. 

This book takes up the most difficult of all school work, 

viz. : the Government of a school, and is filled with original 

and practical ideas on the subject. It is invaluable to the 

teacher who desires to make his school a " well-governed" 

school. 

1. It suggests methods of awakening an interest in the 
studies, and in school work. "The problem for the teacher," 
says Joseph Payne, " is to get the pupil to study." If he can do 
this he will be educated. 

2. It suggests methods of making the school attractive. 
Ninety-nine hundredths of the teachers think young people 
should come to school anyhow ; the wise ones know that a 
pupil who wants to come to school will do something when 
he gets there, and so make the school attractive. 

3. Above all it shows that the pupils will be self -governed 
when well governed. It shows how to develop the process of 
self-government. 

4. It shows how regular attention and courteous behaviour 
may be secured. 

5. It has an admirable preface by that remarkable man and 
teacher, Dr. Thomas Hunter, Pres. N. Y. City Normal College. 

Home and School.—" Is just the book for every teacher who wishes 
to be a better teacher." 

Educational Journal.—" It contains many valuable hints.' ' 

Boston Journal of Education.— "It is the most humane, instructive, 
original educational work we have read in many a day." 

Wis. Journal of Education.—" Commends itself at once by the num- 
ber of ingenious devices for securing order, industry, and interest. 

Iowa Central School Journal.—" Teachers will find it a helpful and 
suggestive book." 

Canada Educational Monthly.—" Valuable advice and useful sugges- 
tions." 

Normal Teacher.—" The author believes the way to manage is to civ- 
ilize, cultivate, and refine." 

School Moderator.—" Contains a large amount of valuable reading ; 
school government is admirably presented." 

Progressive Teacher.— " Should occupy an honored place in every 
teacher's library." 
Ed. Courant.— "It will help the teacher greatly. 1 
Va. Ed. Journal.—" The author draws from a large experience." 



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E. L. KELLOGG & CO.. NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 27 

Johnsons Education by Uoing . 

Education by Doing : A Book of Educative Occupations 

for Children in School. By Anna Johnson, teacher to 

the Children's Aid Schools of New York City. With a 

prefatory note by Edward R. Shaw, of the High School of 

Yonkers, N. Y. Handsome red cloth, gilt stamp. Price, 

75 cents ; to teachers, 60 cents ; by mail, 5 cents extra. 

Thousand of teachers are asking the question : " How can I 

keep my pupils profitably occupied?" This book answers 

the question. Theories are omitted. Every line is full of 

instruction. 

1. Arithmetic is taught with blocks, beads, toy-money, etc. 

2. The tables are taught by clock dials, weights, etc. 

3. Form is taught by blocks. 

4. Lines with sticks. 

5. Language with pictures. 

6. Occupations are given. 

7. Everything is plain and practical. 

EXTRACT FROM PREFACTORY NOTE. 

" In observing the results achieved by the Kindergarten, educators 
have felt that Froebers great discovery of education by occupations 
must have something for the public schools— that a further application 
of 4 the putting of experience and action in the place of books and 
abstract thinking,' could be made beyond the fifth or sixth year of the 
child's life. This book is an outgrowth of this idea, conceived in the 
spirit of the 4 New Education.' 

" It will be widely welcomed, we believe, as it gives concrete methods 
of work —the very aids primary teachers are in search of. There has 
been a wide discussion of the subject of education, and there exists no 
little confusion in the mind of many a teacher as to how he should im- 
prove upon methods that have been condemned." 

Supt. J. W. Skinner, Children's Aid Schools, says:— "It is highly 

appreciated by our teachers. It supplies a want felt by all. " 

Toledo Blade.—" The need of this book has been felt by teachers." 

School Education.—" Contains a great many fruitful suggestions.'* 

Christian Advance.—" The method is certainly philosophical." 

Va. Ed. Journal.—" The book is an outgrowth of Froebel's idea." 

Philadelphia Teacher.—" The book is full of practical information." 

Iowa Teacher.— "Kellogg's books are all good, but this is the best 
for teachers. 

The Educationist.—" We regard it as very valuable." 

School Bulletin.—" We think well of this book." 

Chicago Intelligence,—" Will be found a very serviceable book." 



SEND ALL ORDERS TO 

28 E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 

Soutbwidk's Handy Helps. 

Handy Helps. A Manual of Curious and Interesting Infor- 
mation. By Albert P. Southwick, A.M., Author of 
" Quizzism and Its Key," etc. 16mo, cloth, 290 pp. Price, 
$1.00 ; to teachers, 80 cents ; by mail, 8 cents extra. 

1. This volume contains five hundred questions that are of 
interest to every reading man and woman in the United 
States. To hunt up an answer to even one of these would 
require sometimes days of research. 

2. The volume will be valuable to the teacher especially, 
because he is surrounded with an inquiring set of young 
beings. For instance, " What is the origin of the term John 
Bull ?" If asked this the teacher might be unable 1x3 answer 
it, yet this and many other similar queries are answered by 
this book. 

Such a volume can be used in the school-room, and it will 
enliven it, for many young people are roused by the questions 
it contains. Something new can be found in it every day to 
interest and instruct the school. It is an invaluable aid in 
oral teaching, unequaled for general exercises, and interesting 
dull pupils. 

4. It will afford refined entertainment at a gathering of 
young people in the evening, and really add to their knowl- 
edge. 

5. The queries in it pertain to matters that the well- 
informed should know about. Here are a few of them : 

Animal with Eight Eyes ; The Burning Lakes ; Boycotting ; 
Burial Place of Columbus ; Bride of Death ; Bluebeard's Cas- 
tle ; City of the Violet Crown ; Dead Sea Fruit ; Doors that 
are Books ; Derivation of the words, Uncle Sam ; First use of 
the expression, ' ' Defend me from my friends"; Flogged for 
Kissing his Wife ; How Pens are Slit ; Key of the Ba stile ; 
Mother Goose ; Origin of All Fooi's Day ; Reason Rhode Island 
has two capitals ; Silhouette ; Simplest Post-office in the 
World; Umbrella a mile Wide; "Sharpshooters" among 
fishes ; Unlucky days for matrimony ; Year with 445 days ; 
Why black is used for mourning ; etc. , etc. 

6. It is a capital book to take on a railroad journey ; it 
entertains, it instructs. 

Home Journal.— " One can scarcely turn a page without finding 
something he desires to learn, and which every well-read man ought to 
know. 

Interior.— " Immensely instructive and entertaining in school-rooms, 
families and reading circles. 



SEND AIjL, ORDERS TO 

E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 29 



KECEPTI5H 



Reception T>ay. 6 £h(os. 

A collection of fresh and original dialogues, recitations, 
declamations, and short pieces for practical use in Public 
and Private Schools. Bound in handsome, new paper 
cover, 160 pages each, printed on laid paper. Price 30 
cents each ; to teachers, 24 cents ; by mail, 3 cents extra. 

The exercises in these books bear upon education ; have a 
relation to the school-room. 

1. The dialogues, recitations, 
and declamations, gathered in 
this volume being fresh, short, 
easy to be comprehended and 
are well fitted for the average 
scholars of our schools. 

2. They have mainly been 
used by teachers for actual 
school exercises. 

3. They cover a different 
ground from the speeches of 
Demosthenes and Cicero — 
which are unfitted for boys of 
twelve to sixteen years of age. 

4. They have some practical 
interest for those who use 
them. 

5. There is not a vicious 
sentence uttered. In some 
dialogue books profanity is 
found, or disobedience to 
parents encouraged, or lying 




NEW COVER. 

laughed at. Let teachers look out for this. 

6. There is something for the youngest pupils. 

7. " Memorial Day Exercises " for Bryant, Garfield, Lincoln, 
etc. , will be found. 

8. Several Tree Planting exercises are included. 

9. The exercises have relation to the school-room and bear 
upon education. 

10. An important point is the freshness of these pieces. 
Most of them were written expressly for this collection, and 
can be found nowhere else. 

Boston Journal of Education.— " Is of practical value." 
Detroit Free Press.—" Suitable for public and private schools,'' 
Western Ed. Journal,— " A series of very good selections." 



EIGHTEENTH YEAR! 

The S chool .J ournal 

JL is published weekly at $2.50 a year. Amos M. Kel- 

logg and Jerome Allen, two teachers of life-long 
experience and progressive ideas, devote their whole 

^ time to editing it. Established 18 years ago, it is to- 
day the best known and widest circulated educational 

,jl, weekly in the country. This reputation has been won 
strictly on its merits, as its subscribers know, and you 
will too (if not now a subscriber), if you send 6 cents 

tAt for a sample copy. 

TENTH YEAR! 

Jhe T eachers* I nstitute 

^ is published monthly at $1.25 a year; 12 large 44 page 

papers constitute a year (most other educational 

, monthlies publish but 9 or 10). It is edited by the 

* same editors as the School Journal, and has, ever 
since it was started in 1878, been the most popular 

JL- monthly educational published, circulating in every 
sta te — a national paper. This was because it was 
practical — little theory and much practice — crammed 

jf with it. Sample copy 10 cents. 

ELEVENTH YEAR! 

T reasure- Trove 

it is a beautiful illustrated 36 page monthly, for the boys 
and girls. Price, $1.00 a year. We must refer you 
to our descriptive circular for particulars about this 

ic charming paper, for we have not room here to tell you 
the half of its value. It is used by thousands of 
teachers as an aid to their school room work. 

-^T Sample, 10 cents. 

E. L. KELLOGG & CO., Educational Publishers, 

NEW YORK AND CHICAGO. 



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